


Rock You Like A Hurricane

by feelskilledthefangirl



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Brothers, Bullying, Caring Brothers, Caring Dean, Castiel Plays Guitar, Castiel/Dean Winchester First Kiss, Classic Rock, Confident Castiel, Doctor Who References, First Kiss, Friendship, Gay, Gay Male Character, Guitarist Cas, Guitars, High School Drama, High School Student Castiel, High School Student Dean, High School Student Gabriel, High School Student Sam, Love, M/M, Music, Nerd Dean, Nerdiness, Punk Castiel, Rock Stars, Rock and Roll, Self Confidence Issues, Shy Dean, Singer Castiel, Supernatural AU - Freeform, nerds, rock - Freeform, rock music, wayyy to many Doctor Who References
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-03-21 05:51:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 102,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3680373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feelskilledthefangirl/pseuds/feelskilledthefangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would it be like to know your idol? To go to the very same school as your idol. Dean Winchester knows his idol, but to Castiel Novak, Dean Winchester is just another speck in his every growing crowd of fans. However, this doesn't stop the nerdy Dean Winchester from going to see this small time band  'The Fallen Angel's' live in concert so he can feel just a little closer to his favorite lead singer Castiel Novak.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Imaginary Lover

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by: Dean_Doctor_221b on Instagram

He was the epitome of perfection. Everything about him was perfect from his dark locks with the blue tips and his beautiful tattooed skin, down to his bright sparkling eyes and his deep alluring voice. Dean couldn't help but invision the glorious boy with a sense of admiration and a touch of jealousy.

Dean bobbed his head happily along as he walked to class listening to his favorite band in the entire world.  The band was a small band, not really heard of outside of their small area of Lawrence. This band went by the name of 'The Fallen Angels'. 

All three of the bands members were known famously throughout the school and were glorified by everyone as they walked down the halls of the tiny school. There wasn't a single person in that school who didn't know their names. Dean was sure that one day The Fallen Angels would become the new Black Veil Brides or AC-DC of his generation.

Arm's laden with heavy books Dean hummed quietly to himself as he walked into his calculous class and sat at his desk.

As the teacher walked into the class room Dean took the loud metal music out of his ears and put away his headphones. He always hated when he had to turn off his music. He loved school (Well he liked the learning part of school. Not the people part of it) but music would always win over school in Dean's books. Dean swore that The Fallen Angel's music was literally written and blessed by angel's themselves. Being the nerd that he was, most people didn't expect him of all people to listen to that sort of music so no one ever really talked with him about it. (Not that many people talked to him anyways)

Dean leaned over to pull his books from his bag as other children bustled and chattered around him.

He pushed his thin black wire framed glasses up the bridge of his nose as he heard a group of girls talking excitedly.

Dean's head almost snapped up when he heard a name that he could never forget. The girls had mentioned ' _his'_ name so Dean immediately began to eaves drop on the conversation going on behind him.

"Isn't his voice just beautiful?" One girl, by the name of Hannah chirped cheerfully.

"Oh God yes, and that ass is to die for!" Another girl, Ruby, chimed in.

"What about his eyes and those tattoos!" A third girl, Anna, purred.

Ruby moaned softly and said, "Don't forget about his brother too."

They all swooned as they ran down the list of perks each band member had to offer.

"Are you going to their concert tonight after school?" Hannah asked excitedly.

"I want to go so badly! My mom won't let me out of the house, because I'm supposed to be  _'grounded'_  or something from tonight until Monday morning..."  Ruby said with tears in her voice.

"I'm going!" Anna exclaimed excitedly.

"Bitch." Ruby snapped in what seemed a playful manner, but Dean knew it was anything but friendly. Almost all the girls in this school were utter assholes who all had a stick of self-righteousness shoved up their asses.

The girls laughed the insult off, pretending not to know it was an insult, but Dean knew they would find a way to stab Ruby in the back for that somehow for that.

From the corner of his eye, Dean could see Anna jumping up and down in excitement only to rub it into Ruby's face some more.

All at once the class grew incredibly quiet. Dean didn't even have to look towards the door to know who had just walked in.

It had to be him. Dean looked up and saw the lead singer and guitarist of The Fallen Angels. It was Castiel Novak in all his glory.

Dean could hear girls behind him swooning in delight and guys looking on in jealousy. He had to fight hard not to swoon along with them. Cas was just so damn attractive!

Holding in his reaction, all Dean could think was,  _'I wish he would notice me.'_

Dean knew this would never happen though. He had never said more than ten words to Castiel since the day they met in Pre-K. Dean had always shown an interest in Castiel and his mystical blue eyes but was usually too afraid to say anything to him. Since Cas showed no interest in talking with him either Dean just assumed that he wasn't interested in friendship or anything else between them. Dean had to just settle for watching him instead. (That's totally not creepy or anything though... Or... at least that's what he always tells himself.)

To distract himself, Dean worked on his ever present pile of homework and classwork while day dreaming of one day standing on stage beside Castiel fist in the air, belting out lyrics to one of those perfect songs of their.

Dean's mind began to wander, like it often did before class started. He started to think about the concert that was taking place that night. The tickets had been so cheap only fifteen bucks pop. He was sure that at least half the students at their school of 500 students were going to be there. A smile spread across Dean's face as he realized that he would get to be one of those people out there watching Cas.

He wondered what it felt like to be up on that stage with hundreds of fan screaming your name. Sometimes he just wished that he could feel what that was like for just a day. Have people adoring his, instead of tripping his in the halls or knocking loose books from his arms. People would actually like to hang around with him, instead of being embarrassed that they had to stand in the same room or breath the same air.

Dean sighed quietly to himself as he cursed his over active imagination. It only made him upset when he thought about it too much.

No one knew of his obsession with this band, not that he really had anyone to tell anyways other than his little brother Sammy, but Dean didn't say anything about it to him. He was worried that Sam would judge him for his music choice since his brother usually only listened to modern pop. Everyone just assumed that he listened to like classical music since he was a nerd and all.

He thanked God that it was almost the end of the week. He never got much homework on Thursday nights so he was able to go to this concert. If it had been basically any other night of the week Dean would have been sitting at a desk at home inevitably studying for some test or completing a long list of school assignments by the dim light of his desktop lamp.

Now all he had to do is make up some story for Sammy and sneak out for the night. It was just for a few hours, right? No one would really take much notice. Everyone needed just a few hours to go out and have some run right?

"Mr. Winchester?" 

Dean was pulled from his thoughts as his teacher, Crowley walked over to his desk and practically stood over him and glowered down at him with that ever present sneer on his face.

"Huh?" Dean said in confusion as he looked up at the bitter teacher who seemed to hate him for some reason.

"Are you finished living in your little fantasy world?"

Dean blushed a deep shade of red as he stuttered, "I-uh yeah... sorry sir."

He cast his eyes downwards at the desk, feeling the eyes of everyone around him staring. Just what he needed, another reason to be made fun of... Great. Nervously, Dean reached up and pushed his glass back up his face as they slid down the bridge of his nose.

From across the room Cas said in a whisper loud enough for everyone to hear, "Who the hell wouldn't rather be in a fantasy world in this class."

That quickly pulled fits of giggles from nearly every girl in the class. Of course perfect Castiel would have a witty comment to make everyone laugh at. Dean was surprised that Cas was actually defending him about something. Most people just let it happen and didn't bother to help Dean out at all. They just cast him sideways glances and kept on walking.

"Mr. Novak? Would like to share your input with the class?" Crowley asked, giving the rock star a hard glare.

"Nah, I'm good." Cas said as he leaned back in his desk chair and put his arms behind his head. Dean's heart seemed to freeze momentarily as Castiel's flashed once in his direction.

Crowley nearly growled with anger. If there was one person Crowley hated more than him, it was Cas. "Do you enjoy being in detention Mr. Novak?"

"I like it more than here." Cas challenged. "Ellen is much nicer than you are."

Dean thought he saw fire flying from Crowley's eyes as he glared Cas down. "If you like her so much, why don't you go give her a visit? I'm sure she would love it. I will even write you a detention slip."

Some of the students gave Crowley a nasty look and grumbled in displeasure. Everyone got angry if Cas went to detention. None of them felt like Cas ever deserved detention (Dean included himself in that scenario).

"You know, I think I'm good actually." Cas smirked at Crowley as he added, "I've kinda got a gig tonight and I think my friends actually want me to be there..."

"Mr. Novak, will you just shut that blabbering trap of your for one class period." Crowley sighed. He was beyond done. Cas had been giving the teacher shit for the entire week.

Dean bet that Crowley had a dart board at home with both his and Castiel's year book pictures tacked onto it. Then whenever either of them pissed him off he would go home and throw dart at their faces to get his revenge.

"Whatever you say C-man." Cas chirped happily as he picked up his pencil and began to doodle on his paper.

The rest of the class passed by miraculously in peace as the end of the day approached almost too quickly for Dean to handle.

Somehow, he now found himself, now walking beside Sammy towards his black, 67 Chevy Impala as his brother rambled on about some test he had just taken last block and another test that he had to take tomorrow.

"It was really difficult, but I think I did okay." Sam was telling him.

"That's great Sammy!" Dean replied, still not remembering what test his brother had even been talking about in the first place. "I bet you did better than okay. You're a friggin' genius."

Sam shrugged, "Ehh... it was really difficult though."

"You're like the smartest guy in our school though!"

Sam rolled his eyes and smirked as they both climbed into the car together and began to drive back home for the night.

Finally, Dean turned to his brother and said, "Hey, uhh Sammy, I'm gonna have to leave you home alone tonight. I have to- uh go work on this Calculus project with someone."

Dean silently swore to himself, ' _Calculous project? Why the fuck would I have a calculous project? Why didn't I say like science or something?'_

 "A calculous project?" Sam questioned.

_'Fuck. The kid's too smart for his own good.'_ _Dean thought to himself as he realized how fucked he was now._ _'Great job playing it cool...'_

 "Uhh... yeah..." Dean tried to scramble for something to say, "You know how Crowley is. He's a douchebag."

"Yeah... uhh okay." Sam said awkwardly as he gave Dean a strange look. "When are you leaving?"

Dean looked at the clock on his dash as he pulled into their driveway. It was 5:00pm on the dot. He had an hour and a half until they were letting people in.

"In about forty five minutes..." Dean told his brother as they climbed from the vehicle and walked towards the house. It might be a little bit too early to leave but he didn't really mind waiting if he had to.

"Okay. How late will you be out?" Sam asked as Dean unlocked the door.

He was quiet for a minute. ' _How long to_ _concerts_ _usually_ _last?'_ Dean asked himself silently. He had never really been to a concert before... Trying to think as quick on his feet Dean shrugged and finally said, "Uh... I don't know. Till eleven... Twelvish...?"

Sam looked at him quizzically as they walked inside. "Uh... okay... Wow... Big project?"

"Yeah... uh... it's a real pain in the ass..." Dean said as he scratched the back of his neck.  _'This isn't working out very well...'_ He thought to himself.

As they walked inside, Dean could feel Sam's eyes boring into the back of his head. It was a little unnerving to be completely honest.

Finally Dean turned around and snapped, "What Sam? I can feel you staring at me. What?"

His brother looked a little surprised at his sudden outburst but that quickly turned into a small smirk as he asked, "Dean, you're going to that concert tonight aren't you?"

Dean flushed red and tried to hide his face by walking into the kitchen and pulling food out of the pantry to make them both peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about. I told you I'm working on a project with someone."

"With who?" Sam asked curiously as he popped up beside Dean and moved to sit on the counter.

"Why are you so annoying Sam?" Dean snapped as he tried to think of anything to say. This so wasn't going how he planned at all. Why did Sam have to question him? Did he really seem that nervous? Normally Sam couldn't tell when something was up with him. Normally he could lie better if he had to.

"Why won't you tell me what you're really doing?" Sam asked with a smirk.

"Cause its none of your fucking business..." Dean grumbled as he slathered a slice of bread with jelly.

"Come on Dean. Just tell me that's what you're really doing!" Sam goaded his brother. "It's not like I'm gonna tell anyone, I just wanna know where you really are! You've gotten so secretive lately."

_'Fuck. Maybe I'm not as good of a liar as I thought I was....'_ Dean began to question himself before sighing and hanging his head in defeat. He knew his brother probably wasn't going to let this drop anytime soon. Hell, Sam would probably follow him after he left and find out anyways. "Fine. Yes. I'm going to The Fallen Angel's concert tonight."

"Ha! I totally knew it! I knew you listened to the Fallen Angels" Sam said sounding way to triumphant.

"How the fuck did you know that's where I was going?" Dean demanded. He wanted to badly to smack that smug smile off his brothers face but he held himself back.

"Come on dean. You totally have the hots for Cas! How could you miss his concert, the tickets were only fifteen fucking bucks!"

Dean's face turned a darker shade of red than he thought it ever had before. "Shut your mouth." He snapped.

Sam's eyebrows immediately shot up and his eyebrows widened as he said, "Oh shit. I was right? I-I was just guessing, I mean I always kind of assumed you- but I was never completely sure..."

"Fuck..." Dean swore under his breath. He hadn't meant to snap back like that, now Sam knew that Dean had his eyes on Cas. His anger never got him anywhere...

_'God Damn it already! Keep your fucking mouth shut!'_ Dean screamed at himself. This was getting ridiculous. Thinking of Cas made him careless. It was his fatal flaw.

"Are you like totally- I mean do you like chicks too or?" Sam left his unfinished questions hang in the air between them.

Dean stayed totally silent as he finished making the first sandwich and pushed it towards Sam. Then he pulled out two more slices of bread so he could make himself a sandwich too.

Sam sat unmoving on the counter, ignoring the food in front of him as he whispered, "You know I don't care if you're- if you're like that Dean."

The silence stretched even longer as Dean tried to ignore his brother's soft, understanding voice beside him.

Sam quickly grew tired of the silence between them so he said, "Fine, if you don't wanna tell me that's cool. I understand, but I want you to assure you that I won't say anything about this to dad or to anyone, okay?" Sam stopped for a moment, before reaching out to touch Dean's arm and get his attention.

Dean forced himself to look up into those chocolate green and brown eyes. What he saw reflected back at him in those puppy dog orbs wasn't the shame and disgust that he expected, all he saw there was complete love and understanding.

"I also want you to know that I still love and accept you for who you are. I don't care who you love Dean, as long as you're happy I really don't care." Sam gave him as soft smile as he tried to reassure his brother.

Dean looked away from Sam again and remained quiet as he finished making his own sandwich and began to pick up the mess to distract himself.

_'I need to get out of here.'_ Dean thought to himself. He was quickly becoming uncomfortable with this conversation. This is not how he expected to spend the first few hours of his evening.

Dean put his plate down on the table before saying, "Eat your sandwich Sammy. You've gotta study for tomorrow. Didn't you say you had like a bio test or something to study for?"

Sam sighed in defeat. He had tried and apparently failed to get through to his him, not that Dena was making it easy. "Yeah, I've got a bio test tomorrow..."

Dean helped his brother off the counter before walking over to the fridge and pulling out two sodas, a Pepsi Max for Sam and a Coca Cola for Dean. Those were their favorites. "Here ya go. Brain food. Or drink I guess." Dean said as he popped the tab on Sam's soda and set it down in front of him.

Sam smirked lightly and took the soda from his brother, taking a deep swig from the can before setting it on the table beside his sandwich. "Thanks Dean."

"No problem Sammy." Dean replied as he sat down beside his brother.

When Dean sat down he ended up just stared at the sandwich in front of him. His nerves were making him lose his appetite, not to mention that he just accidentally came out to his little brother. That alone was enough to put anyone on edge. Dean could feel Sam looking at him from the corner of his eye he picked up the sandwich and took a big bite.

With a small sigh, Dean finally looked up at Sam and said, "Yeah, its only guys okay. It's always been like that. I don't really know why, most chicks are just douche bags I guess. Guys are easier to get along with."

There was a moment of silence as Sam chewed before he curiously asked, "Are you gonna try and make a move on Cas?"

Dean pushed up his thick dark glasses with a look of shock on his face and said, "I've never really even talked to him Sam. Besides, I'm pretty sure he's straight."

"With your face I'm sure you can be pretty convincing! Even if he is straight." Sam said with a small wink.

"Stop it Sam." Dean warned his brother as he tried to busy himself with his own sandwich now.

"Well you're never going to get anywhere with him if you have an attitude like that!" Sam mumbled. "Besides, Castiel is nice guy! I've talked to him and his brother Gabriel before."

Dean's eyes traveled upwards to Sam but didn't say a word. He had no idea that Sam had talked to them before.

"I think you two would actually be pretty good friends." Sam said casually as he took a bite out of his own sandwich and smirked at Dean.

Dean rolled his eyes, he didn't think that anyone as cool as Cas would want to be friends with a nerd like him. What the hell did they even have in common? Finally, Dean just said, "Whatever you say Sam."

"If you just tried talking to him I'm sure you would see what I'm talking about." Sam said with a smile.

Dean just pursed his lips and glanced at his watch.  He nearly choked on a bite of his sandwich when he saw that it was already five thirty five. "Fuck, I've gotta go get ready!" Dean exclaimed as he coughed harshly and pushed his chair away from the table.

Sam snorted with laughter and followed his brother as Dean ran from the room.

As Dean vanished into his clean bedroom he heard Sam call, "Dean, do you even know what kind of things to wear to a rock concert?"

"Yeah I totally do." Dean called back half-heartedly. He knew that was a lie. Dean wasn't sure that he had a single thing that would even come close to looking cool at a concert.

_'Why haven't I bought more band tees?'_ Dean asked himself sadly. He loved band tees but he never bought them for the fear of being questioned about them. There were so many rock bands that he adored, especially the classic rock bands, but he generally kept that to himself. Nerds weren't really supposed to like that kind of music. He didn't want to be labeled as a trouble maker because of his music preferences. Dean kinda liked his good boy reputation at school. None of the teacher ever questioned him or his actions, not that they really even had a reason to in the first place.

"Hey Dean," Sam called quietly as he entered his brothers room to see Dean rooting around desperately in his closet.

"Hmmm?" Dean hummed as his eyes scanned across his array of shirts. All of them were button ups. He had white ones, blue ones, bunch of plaid ones, and Dean was  _pissed_.  _'Why the fuck don't I buy cooler clothes?'_

"I have something for you. Come out of the closet for a minute."  Sam said from behind him.

"I thought I already came out of the closet." Dean joked tiredly as he ran his fingers through his hair and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

Sam chuckled and said, "Well you came out of one closet, but I need you to actually walk out of your closet now. I need to give you something."

Dean smirked lightly as he finally emerged from his closet and walked over to his brother. Since Sam knew he was gay now he might as well try to have a sense of humor and crack some jokes about it right?

Dean glanced down at his brother's hands as he walked over to him. He held a small Hot Topic bag in his hands.

"What's that?" Dean asked carefully, unsure about what his brother was holding.

"I was going to give this to you for Christmas, but now a good a time as any I guess." Sam said as he handed the bag over to Dean.

"Are you sure Sammy?" Dean asked curiously as he took the back hesitantly from his little brother.

"Yeah I'm sure! Just open it Dean!" Sam said eagerly watching him.

_'What the hell is in here?'_ Dean thought curiously as he sat down on his bed and reached into the bag, making the plastic crinkle loudly.

Inside the bag Dean felt soft fabric running across his fingers. In a rush, he quickly grasped the fabric and pulled it free from the bag.

"Oh my God..." Dean breathed in a hushed whisper as he looked down at the things in his hands.

"Do you like them?" Sam asked hopefully as Dean held up the first of two shirts.

The first shirt was a gray t-shirt with bold red letters running across it that spelled out 'AC*DC' in red letters. Beaming brightly, Dean set the first shirt to the side and picked up the second shirt. Dean's smile got even brighter when he looked at the black shirt in his hands. This t-shirt was a similar to the first one except this one sported the name 'Led–Zeppelin' and had their famous Icarus logo on it.

"Sammy I love these!" Dean was in shock. He couldn't believe what he was holding in his hands. These were his two all-time favorite classic rock bands of all time. Now he had a shirt for each of them. "How did you know that these two were my favorite?"

"I remember you talking about them a while back and I hoped you would like these." Sam exclaimed as he smiled at him. "I'm so glad you like them!"

"These are perfect Sam!" Dean gazed down at the shirts in his lap in awe.  _'Looks like this is the start of my band tee collection then!'_ He thought to himself joyfully.

"Which one should I wear?" Dean asked aloud. "You pick Sammy."

Sam thought quietly for a minute as he squinted down at the shirts. After a minute he said, "Zeppelin, defiantly go with Zeppelin."

Dean smirked and set the AC*DC shirt to the side.

"Alright, lemme get changed real quick, I've gotta go soon." Dean said as he stood and walked back to his closet. He still needed to find pants to go with the shirt.

Sam stood and left as Dean decided upon a pair of his tattered and slightly ripped jeans.  _'You wear ripped jeans to a rock concert right?'_  Dean asked himself as he tossed the pants down onto the bed.  _'I really need to go to more concerts...'_

"Dean how's it going in there?" Sam called as Dean pulled the shirt over his head. "Does it fit?"

He tugged the shirt down and looked down at himself with pride. The shirt fit like a charm! It was absolutely perfect. He pushed his glasses back up on his nose again as he pulled free the necklace that Sam gave him years ago. He smiled again as the golden charm sat nicely against his chest and stood out on the black material of his shirt.

"Yeah it fits great Sammy!" Dean called back as he hurriedly slipped in to his jeans and opened his bedroom door.

"Damn Dean!" Sam whistled as he opened up the door and gave his brother a dramatic pose. "You look pretty fucking ready for a rock concert!"

"Do I really?" Dean asked eagerly as he smiled at Sam.

"Yeah! You really do!" Sam walked over to Dean and began to tousle his hair.

"What the hell are you doing Sam?" Dean asked in confusion as he tried to worm his way from Sam's fingers.

"Hold still dumbass, I'm fixing your hair. It looks too formal and preppy!" Sam complained as he tried to hold him in place.

_'Too formal? Is my hair always too formal?'_ Dean thought to himself in concern. He didn't want to seem preppy all the time!

"Should I put in my contacts?" Dean asked as Sam's fingers combed at his hair.

"Nah, don't waste them. You look good in glasses." Sam said lightly as he finished with his hair.

Dean walked to the bathroom to look at his reflection and said, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Don't you only have a couple of pairs of them anyways?" Sam asked.

John had bought Dean contacts one time, then complained about how much they were so he refused to but Dean more. Dean had sworn to himself only to use the remaining contacts if he broke his glasses, which hadn't happened yet much to his surprise. He needed to see, and without his glasses, everything around him was just dissolved into one massive blur.

"Yeah, but I can afford to use a pair."

"Not worth it Dean. I like your glasses anyways." Sam told him with a small laugh.

Dean's walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror hanging on the wall. His eyes widened in shock as he finally caught a glimpse of the boy he saw in the mirror. Dean wasn't really even sure that it was himself looking back at him. Instead of seeing his normal shy, quiet, nerdy self, Dean saw a rebellious, laid back teen who was ready to hit the town.

"Wow..." Dean breathed as he looked at himself up and down.

"Big difference huh?" Sam said as he beamed at him.

"Fuck yeah it is!" Dean exclaimed joyously. "I like it!"

"You should dress like this more often then."

"I just might Sammy. I think I just might do that." Dean agreed.

"Well, you better get out of here. I don't think you have very long left. You should get a move on." Sam told him as he leaned against the bathroom doorframe.

Dean glanced and his watch and saw that the time was now nearly six pm.  _'Fuck, Sam's right, I need to get out of here.'_

He ran back into his room and grabbed his keys and his wallet before rushing into the living room. As Sam followed after him, Dean couldn't help but ask, "How do you know so God damn much about concerts Sammy?"

Sam smirked and said, "I been out before. And like I told you I've talked to Cas and Gabriel before. I hang out with Gabriel in school every now and then."

Dean nodded slowly,  _'Had Sam ever mentioned hanging out with Gabriel? I'm pretty sure I would have remembered him talking about the drummer of The Fallen Angels... right?'_

"I've never mentioned it if that's what you're wondering." Sam told him, breaking him from his silence as he pulled on his shoes.

"I-I knew that." Dean said trying to play off his confusion.  _'I swear that kid can read my mind sometimes...'_ Dean thought.

"Whatever Dean, just get outta here man. You've got a concert to see." Sam said as he walked past him and opened the door for him.

"Thanks Sammy. You were a lifesaver with this shirt man." Dean said as he straightened up and walked to the door.

Sam pulled opened the door and stood back to let his brother outside.

"No problem Dean." Sam said as the corner of his mouth twisted upwards into a gentle smile.

Dean walked out of the house and turned to wave at his brother standing behind him.

"Hey, Dean, don't forget, have fun!" Sam called.

"Thanks Sammy! I will have fun." Dean called back as he unlocked the door of the Impala.

"Try and make a move on Cas if you can!" Sam called softly after him before adding, "And if you see Gabriel tell him I say hi!"

Dean rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrows at Sam before saying, "Bye Sam. See you in a little while."

Then he climbed into the Impala and started her engine as he pulled out and headed off.

~~~

Dean's loved driving in baby alone.

Yes, riding with Sammy was fun too but there was just something to be said for nice blissful, quiet drives down the highway and into the setting sun. Sometimes he just needed to be alone with his own thoughts (Which wasn't always a good thing in large doses).

Dean sighed and stared out the window and at the other drivers around him. The looks that he always got from drivers driving beside him made Dean laugh. He could only imagine was going through their minds as they looked at the seventeen year old driver driving a car that was nearly fifty years old. The Impala was Dean's heaven on the highway.

Dean could help but let out a loud bubbling fit of laughter. He was in a beautiful classic car, with the windows down, his Metallica cassette tape blaring from the speakers, the wind flowing across his face and through his hair as he made his way to a rock concert. For once in his life, Dean actually could say that he felt like a badass! Not like a nerdy kind of badass either, this was the real deal!

Here he was, without Sam complaining about the wind in his face or messing up his hair. He didn't have to listen to Sam bitch about the music being too loud nor did he have to hear Sam whine about how fast he was driving.

He didn't speed; he was just conserving time by pressing the gas pedal a little harder than an average person. That's how it worked right?

A smile was slowly spreading across his face as he got closer to the dance club that had been temporarily converted into a concert venue for the night. The Fallen Angels had rented out the place weeks ago and had been pushing out advertisements for their show everywhere. Dean knew that it was a dream of Castiel's to become famous and hit the big stage one day. (Hey, small time YouTube interviews can be helpful to get information from sometimes, right?)

Dean pulled into the busy bustling parking lot as people began to dodge through the cars in order to jumble into a massive line that was forming outside the front of the building. The line of people was mostly the kids from their school, but Dean did spot a few people in their early twenties outside in line too.

He about had a heart attack in one girl clad in skimpy clothes that barley covered her boobs and let her ass practically hang out almost ran into baby.

She looked up at him with a mean scowl on her face as she flipped him the finger. Dean was pissed, so in his fury he fucking laid on the God damn horn so she would move her ass out of the way. Dean laughed when she jumped in surprise and quickly rushed to cover her ears. After that, she moved out of his way pretty fast, still shooting nasty looks his way.

Somehow, Dean managed to find a spot near the back of the almost filled parking park. In fact, he was parked so far back that he was nearly behind the building, but he found a place to park which was all that mattered.

With his ticket held tightly in hand and a smile on his face, Dean followed the crowd of people moving excitedly to the front of the building.

Dean's heart was a flutter as he approached the door and handed the attendee his ticket to be stamped. ' _I can't believe I'm actually seeing a rock concert!'_ Dean thought to himself as he took his ticket back and entered the building.

He was immediately hit with a wave of voices and background music as his nose was filled with the scent of weed and alcohol. Dean bit his lip nervously; he knew that ninety percent of the people present were not of legal age. If the cops decided to give them all a visit Dean knew he would be screwed. Quickly, his eye scanned through the stoners, drunks and partiers as he tried to evaluate all the quickest exists. Being a nerd at a school full of bullies tends to train a person to always look for an exit or a way out.

_'I wonder how close to the front I can get...'_ Dean thought to himself as he pushed by people shyly on either side of him. Some people were glaring at him, as they recognized his face despite his makeover while others, mostly girls, looked at him appraisingly clearly interested in him.

Dean tried not to blush under their gaze as he fought through wave after wave of people. ' _There are so many people here_ ' Dean's mind was working quickly as the room quickly become hot and stuffy from a mixture of smoke and body heat. Tentatively, Dean estimated that there were at least three hundred people here so far from a mixture of their two local high schools alone.

He wasn't found of people, and usually liked to stay away from big crowds, but sometimes he could suffer thought.  _'It's one night Winchester. You can do this.'_ Dean prompted himself lightly.

Somehow, he finally made it to the front of the stage. With a sigh of relief he leaned up against a small metal barrier that had been put in place. No one appeared to be monitoring the barrier, but it also seemed to be an unspoken rule not to cross it. Most people knew that The Fallen Angels requested space while they played. They didn't like to be over crowded. Since they hadn't yet become a big name band, people still respected the performer's wishes.

_'I wonder when the show will start.'_  Dean mused lightly as he glanced down at his watch. As he looked down, he was suddenly joined by a very bubbly red headed girl and a quiet looking Asian boy.

"Hey, you're that Winchester kid." She said with a smile as Dean looked up at her. "Dean right?"

"Yeah, that's me." Dean said with a small smile back at her.

"I've seen you around school. You seem pretty cool." She said, tossing her flaming hair over her shoulder. "I'm Charley Bradbury."

"Nice to meet you." Dean said as he tried to warm up to her so he wouldn't feel so alone here.

"I like the outfit change by the way. I think this look suits you much better!" She chortled happily as she tapped her fingers on the railing in front of her.

Dean's eyebrows narrowed slightly and a smile curved up at the corners of his mouth as he asked, "Have- have you been following me around school?"

The strange Asian kid beside Charlie snorted lightly and smirked at him with a highly amused expression on his face.

"No not really." Charlie laughed. "I know a lot about you though. I've talked with your brother Sam before. He talks highly of you, that kid definitely loves the hell out of ya, though you're not really my type. Not my gender to be more specific."

 Dean nodded slowly as Charlie continued to talk lightly.  _'Jesus does Sam know everyone at our school? He never told me he had a lesbian friend. Or did he? Was this why he had seemed so liberal?'_

His mind had seemed to wander just a little bit before he was pull back by Charlie moving closer to him and pointing at the Asian kid beside her. "This is Kevin Tran. He doesn't really wanna be here, but I needed someone to come here with me."

Dean waved at the kid named Kevin and said, "What's up."

Now that he thought about it, Dean was pretty sure that he had seen Kevin around school before. Hell he might actually be in one of his classes with him.

"Are you in AP Calc with me?" Dean asked after of minute of squinting into Kevin's face.

"Yeah, that would be me." Kevin said with a grin.

"Oh! You two already know each other? Great!" Charlie said, butting into their conversation.

"No, not really. Kevin is just in some of my classes. I'm not really the talkative type." Dean explained with a smirk on his face.

"Nor is he. You two should get along great!" Charlie said with a nod before jumping onto an entirely new topic by asking, "How long have you listened to 'The Fallen Angels'?"

From the corner of his eye Dean could see Kevin smirking, laughing at Dean because of Charlie's persistence. Dean resisted the urge to smirk back at Kevin for being a smug little shit.

"Basically since they started. I like some of the obscure rock bands, and generally speaking any of the classics." Dean told her honestly as he looked up hopefully towards the small wooden platform that stood for the stage, hoping that maybe he would spot Cas somewhere.

"Damn..." She hummed. "I wish I had known about them for that long. Cas is in one of my classes but he's always swarmed by hot chicks so its hard to talk to him."

"I've been in the same classes with Cas for most of my life, so I knew when he started it." Dean said as he tapped his foot nervously. He wanted the concert to start already. As he looked back towards the stage he thought about the first time he had heard of the Fallen Angels. It was the start of Sophomore year, so about two years ago when Cas first started the band. He had talked vibrantly of the band, which at the time consisted of Cas, his brother Gabriel, and Castiel's old girlfriend Meg. Meg had eventually taken off when the couple broke up, so they had to find a new basses and backup vocalist. Eventually they had found a snarky kid named Balthazar to take his place. He wasn't the best backup vocalist, but he was a God with a guitar.

In classed Dean would listen carefully from a distance to the stories that Castiel told as he fell more and more in love with the boy who never even glanced his way. The reason he began listening to The Fallen Angels was just so he could feel closer to Cas in one sense (Plus they just made really good music). Dean had his voice memorized, he could see his blue shining eyes everywhere he turned, and his tattoos seemed burned into his mind. Dean knew he was obsessed and just beyond any reasonable logic, but he couldn't help it!

Dean's head snapped up when he heard a guitar cord resound through the building.

People all around them began to scream as the crowd pushed forward. He suddenly, felt very cramped and claustrophobic as people pushed in all around him. Charlie was pressed close to his side, while more people ran into him from both the sides and the back of him.

_'Oh God. I'm gonna suffocate in here...'_ Dean thought in a panic,  _'I am gonna fucking suffocate tonight.'_

All rational though was suddenly pushed from Dean's mind when smoke filled the stage from little fog machines off to the sides. The screaming got louder as suddenly through the collecting smoke, a dark figure with one arm raised with triumph as he walked out boldly onto the stage. When his face became clear Dean realized that it was Cas.  _'Oh holy fuck how does he look so damn attractive?'_  Dean thought in a daze. Cas was wearing a ripped denim jacket with dark black ripped jeans, a black guitar slung across his body, and a blue tie strung about his neck. He was utterly attractive as always. His attention was soon diverted from Castiel as Gabriel and Balthazar suddenly appeared behind Cas on the smoky stage in front of him.

As the fog machines shut off and the smoke began to disperse at their feet Cas pulled the microphone to his lips. In excitement and joy he shouted, "How many of you are ready to fucking rock you're asses off tonight?"

He was met with a loud scream from everyone in the building, including Dean, who actually surprised himself.

Music filled the room and as Balthazar's fingers strummed across the strings, while the beating of drums thrummed through his chest. Dean felt free. He actually felt freer right now than he thought he had been in his entire life.

The night seemed to pass by Dean in a blur of music, lights and sound. Castiel's voice hummed through the air like an angel's chorus. Dean was sure he was going to be deaf by the end of the night. Everything was just perfect.

There was one point in the night where Dean nearly had a heart attack. Castiel looked down at the front row of people as he singing along. Dean swore that Cas was staring at him with a smug little smirk on his lips. They seemed to be staring at each other for an eternity before he broke the eye contact by launching into a wicked guitar solo.

"Did you see that?" Charlie shrieked in his ear. "Castiel was looking directly at you Dean!"

_'So it wasn't my imagination!'_ Dean thought joyfully to himself.

Dean beamed at her and fought to stay upright. It wouldn't be very becoming of him if he passed out before the show was even over.

What felt like only minutes later, Dean was listening Castiel's final song and last words of the night.

As the instrument and mic fell silent for the last time. Dean watched The Fallen Angels walk off stage excitedly before he slowly turned around and filed out of the building, following the crowd of people back to the real world.

Dean sighed sadly, the night had been great, better than great actually, he had even made two new friends, but now fun time was over. He had to go back to being the fucking nerd he was.  _'Fuck my life.'_ Dean thought to himself. Now he just had school, tests, and finals to focus on again.  _'Why can't I just be like the other kids?'_  Dean asked himself sadly.

Sam's face flashed in front of Dean's eyes and the truth came back into his head. ' _How can I be selfish enough to even think about that?'_ Dean asked himself.

He needed to be a good student so he could finally get Sam's ass out of the ghetto life they had always grown up in. He wasn't doing this for himself. He was doing this for Sam. Dean remembered that he was more than willing to give up his chance at a semi-decent childhood, to give Sam a better one. Dean couldn't afford to be selfish enough to think of himself. In fact, he should have been at home helping studying or helping Sam study instead of coming to a fucking concert

With a sigh of guilt Dean pushed away from the crowd of people humming softly to himself. He decided to enjoy his night (and selfishness) just a little bit longer. Might as well not let it go to waste. There wasn't anything he could do to change it at this point. Pushing the guilt from his mind, Dean pulled his keys from his pocket and began to sing, growing louder and louder the further away from the crowd he got.

As he fumbled with the lock Dean sang even louder, forgetting that he was outside and not completely by himself.

The words to his favorite Fallen Angel's song poured from his lips, but it was interrupted with him dropping his keys (Because he might have been dancing just a little while he was singing) and him grumbling "Shit." Under his breath.

He bent down in search of the keys to his Impala when Dean heard, "I never knew what a nice voice you had."

Dean shot up in shock, catching the side of his head against the Impala's mirror as he exclaimed. "Son of a Bitch!"

He clutched at his head and nearly toppled over from the pain as he turned and tried to see who the fuck had just snuck up on him.

"Woah, take it easy. You alright?" The guy asked as he reached out put his hand on Dean to stabilize him. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." He said in a gruff tired sounding voice.

"It's uh- its fine." Dean said as he tried to steady him as he pushed his glasses back up his nose. His eyes suddenly widened in shock and he felt like was going to fall over again when he saw a pair of bright blue, very concerned looking eyes in his direction.

These eyes weren't just any pair of eyes. These eyes belonged to the one man who he could never forget. How did he not recognize that voice? Maybe because his voice was a little gruffer and more tired than normal because of all the singing he had done tonight.

"C-Cas?" Dean gasped in shock.

Immediately, Dean tried to straighten his shirt casually and play the whole thing off like it was nothing. This was Castiel fucking Novak he was standing in front of. He was here of his own accord. They weren't forced to be in the same class room together, they weren't forced to be in a group together. This was Castiel choosing to talk to the nerdy Dean Winchester.

"Well I hope that's who I am." Cas said with a soft chuckle.

Dean nearly fainted.  _'Oh my God, Castiel is joking around with me. This really is the best day ever'_ He thought to himself.

"You're Dean, right?" Cas asked when Dean proceeded to say nothing, but smile awkwardly up at Cas.  _'Fuck his eyes are even bluer up close.'_

Dean suddenly snapped out of his daze and realized that he should be answering a question. He scratched nervously at the back of his neck and said, "Yep, that nerd would be me."

_'That nerd? Are you fucking kidding me?"_ Dean was mentally kicking himself as he tried to throw Cas his best 'Impress the ladies smile' as Sam had once called it. Dean was sure that he just looked like a weirdo awkward mess who was trying not to flip out at the fact that Castiel Novak actually knew his name.  

_'Oh God this is not going any way like I imagined talking one on one with Cas would go.'_ Dean thought to himself.

"We're in a few classes together I think." Cas said throwing Dean a charming smile. Dean melted under that pearly smile.

"Yeah, AP Calc and AP Physics." Dean said quickly.  _'Son of a bitch. Now he's gonna think you're a fucking stalker.'_

"Ugh, yeah Crowley is such a charmer isn't he." Cas said with a dark look at their Math teachers name.

"Yeah, charming for someone who should be the king of fucking hell." Dean snorted with a roll of his eyes.

Dean's heart fluttered and seemed to beat out of his chest as Castiel snorted and started to laugh, biting his lip in an amazing way (Not that Dean was watching his lips or anything).

"King of hell... I can see it." Cas said as he wiped tears of laughter from his eyes.

Dean smirked, trying to envision Crowley sitting somewhere down below on a throne made of his student's bones and failed Calc tests.

"What did you think of the show?" Cas asked with a tired, yet blinding smile on his face that made his blue eyes glitter as bright as the stars hanging above their heads.

"You were fucking amazing!" Dean breathed in content. "The show was great!"

Cas leaned back against the side of the Impala as he ran his fingers through his hair and said, "I'm really glad you liked it. I saw you up in the front row, you seemed really into it!"

Dean's heart stopped. Castiel really had been looking at him.  _'Oh fuck.'_ Dean swore to himself  _'Stay calm. Whatever you do, remain calm.'_

"Yeah uh- You guys are one of my favorite bands." Dean said as he fidgeted nervously. "I'm not really one for modern rock, but you guys bring back the classic sounds."

Cas beamed. "Finally someone who gets it! Most people just hear the music and think it's all just this new age rock shit, but you actually read into it and see where our ties come from."

Dean was smiling back brightly at Cas as he excitedly said, "Yeah! Like I love how you pull in some of Metallica, and Zep's sounds. I love it when you play their covers too! You guys are right up there with the old classic Gods of rock!"

Cas laughed again, which was something that Dean decided he really liked. His face was beautiful all the time, but there was something even better about it when he was laughing. Dean couldn't help but notice the smile lines around his mouth and the way his eyes crinkled around the edges of his face. It was absolutely adorable and made Dean blush hard. Thank God it was too dark too see that outside.

"Well, I don't know if we're that good, but thank you Dean." Cas said as he leaned marginally closer to him.

"Believe me. You guys will hit it big one day." Dean assured Castiel with a face of complete seriousness. "I know talent when I see it and you guys defiantly got it."

Cas ducked his head just a little, it seemed as if he too might actually be blushing.  _'Did I just make a future fucking rock legend blush?'_

"I appreciate that Dean. You're a pretty fucking cool guy you know that right?" Cas with as the sides of his mouth twisted upwards in a smile.

Dean blushed harder and chewed on his lip and said, "Nah, I'm a fucking nerd is what I am." Inside he was screaming and dying just a little bit.  _'Oh my fucking God! Castiel Novak, coolest of the cool just called me cool! This is like a dream come true!'_

Cas shrugged, nerds are cool too, especially ones with killer voices." Cas said with a grin.

Was there a hint of a nervous stutter in that comment? Dean had never known Castiel to be nervous before. He stood up on a damn stage in front of hundreds of people! Cas couldn't have been nervous around him! However, the moment Dean had spotted the nerves they vanished all together. Maybe he had just imagined it. Castiel Novak didn't get nervous especially around a fucking nerd. Why would he?

"So, uh, speaking of your singing, that's actually the reason I came over here." Cas said brightly as he took in a deep breath and beamed up at Dean, making his heart skip a beat.

"I was thinking, how would like to join The Fallen Angels. With a voice like that you would be a hit! We need a good solid vocalist. Balthazar is good, but he more of a guitar kinda guy." Castiel's voice flowed through Dean like butter as he tried to understand what Castiel was asking him.

_'Did I just get invited to be a part of a rock band?'_ Dean was frozen in place.  _'I think that is what just happened.'_

"I mean, if you don't want to that's completely fine, I just thought you had a nice voice and all." Cas said when Dean failed to reply.

He suddenly forced himself back to life as he stuttered, "I uh- Yeah! No, I mean that... that would be great! I would fucking love to be in the band!" Dean exclaimed with joy. He still hadn't wrapped his brain around it all. This couldn't be happening to him right now.

Cas beamed in delight. Obviously thrilled that Dean had accepted the offer. "Great! Awesome! I mean, and you'll even get paid when we have shows and stuff!"

_'Fuck! Can this get any better?'_ Dean thought to himself.  _'I am gonna being part of a band, get paid to sing, and best of all GET TO HANG OUT WITH CASTIEL FUCKING NOVAK.'_

"That... this is so great!" Dean breathed. He was absolutely clueless on what to say next so he said, "Thank you so much Cas. This is a great honor,"

"Pshh, it's nothing. Not with a voice like yours! I was worried that I would never find someone that had just the right voice for the job!" Cas said brushing Dean's comment off with a wide smile. "Hey, do you by chance play any instruments?" Cas suddenly asked in interest.

Dean shook his head sadly and said, "No, I never had time too."

"How would you like to learn to play the guitar?"  Cas asked, "I can teach you and everything!"

Dean's heart inflated as he excitedly said, "I would love that!"

"Alright, it's a date then!" Cas said with a smirk.

Dean practically had another heart attack on the spot from Castiel's choice of word. He could have picked any choice of words but Castiel had picked 'Date'. Dean could honestly be struck down right now and he would die a happy man.

"Alright." Dean said weakly with a lame little smile plastered on his face.  _'God I probably look like a massive dork right now.'_ Dean hummed to himself. He was sure that any moment Cas was going to throw confetti in his face and yell 'Surprise! This is only a joke, no one wants to be in a rock band with a nerd!' but that moment never came.

Instead Cas said, "Hey, do you have you phone on you so I could give you my number?"

Dean was wrong. This night could get better. It could get way better.

"Uh- Yeah! Sure!" Dean said excitedly as he fumbled in his pockets looked wildly for his phone.

In Dean's excitement he nearly dropped his phone, causing both him and Cas to jump forward just a little. Dean couldn't help but notice how their hands brushed together slightly and how the two of them seemed just a little closer together now.

"Well damn." Cas said with a breathless smile. "That was a close one."

"Y-Yeah..." Dean stuttered lightly as he took his phone from Castiel's hand in order to unlock the device.

Once Dean was on the contacts page of his phone he handed it back to the man to let him enter his number.

Dean tried to contain his excitement as he watched Castiel bit his lip just a little bit in concentration as he entered his information into the phone.

"There you go. That should do it!" Cas said with a smile as he pressed the oh so important save contact button on Dean's phone.

Dean took back the device gingerly, there was no need to be too hasty and risk dropping the phone that now had a precious phone number in it.

"Thanks!" Dean said with his award winning smile, which made Castiel break out into that beautiful smile of his once again.

The air between them felt as if it had begun to heat up just a little and the space between them seemed to close up just a little bit more. Dean couldn't help but notice that Castiel seemed to be leaning towards him ever so slightly as he tilted his head in a small manor that Dean almost didn't notice.

Suddenly, the silence between them was broken when a voice called, "Hey! Cas? You out here? We gotta go!"

"That would probably be Gabriel..." Castiel hummed in what seemed like disappointment. He let out a deep breath and leaned slightly away from Dean, much to his disappointment. That strange moment between them had evaporated like water on fire. Dean was utterly disappointed at Gabriel's interruption. It couldn't have been worse timing.

"Yeah, I'm coming just give me a minute!" Cas called back.

"Well you better hurry because me and Balthy have some chicks who are pretty eager to get out of here if you know what I mean!" There was a suggestive nature pulling at the strings of Gabriel's voice as he called out to them.

The parking lot was now almost empty so Dean could clearly hear the faint giggling of girls from where ever Gabriel's voice was coming from.

Cas groaned. "Please excuse my brother and our friend. They are truly... ah- embracing this rock star lifestyle."

Dean snickered and nodded his head, "That's understandable. I'm sure you have someone whose waiting for you back there too. I don't wanna keep you longer than you wanna be."

He tried to hide the jealousy in his voice as he thought of how Castiel might have a bunch of lowlife sluts crawling all over him tonight.

Cas shook his head and said, "No, unlike them I only enjoy the music part of rock and roll. I don't sleep around I'm happy to say, though I think that together those guys more than cover for me."

Dean chuckled and tucked his phone away. Relief had flooded though him. He knew that he had no chance with Cas, (who probably wasn't even into dudes anyways) but knowing that he wouldn't be with some girl tonight made him feel better.

"Hey if you wanna just hang out with us tonight, since you're in the band tonight, you're welcome to come along." Cas said as he smiled at Dean.

Dean looked at Cas sadly with longing in his eyes as he said, "I can't. I've got a little brother at home that I need to get back to." Dean wished so much that he could have hung out with them, but Sam was probably sitting awake at home eagerly waiting for his return.

Cas nodded slowly and said, "Don't worry about it. It's cool Dean. I can introduce you to the band later on."

"Alright that sounds good." Dean said with his smile returning to his face.

"Well, goodnight then Dean. Don't keep your brother waiting." Cas said as he smiled back at him. "I will talk to you soon right?"

Dean nodded excitedly and said, "Yeah! I'll be in touch! Thank you for this opportunity Cas! I won't let you down!"

Cas beamed at him. "I didn't think you would! The other will be so excited to hear that I finally found a new band member!"

"Good! I'm glad." Dean said with a smile. "Goodnight Cas!" Dean called as Castiel walked away from him.

"Night Dean!" Cas called back as he waved over his shoulder and half jogged, half walked over to his car that had been parked somewhere by the rear exit of the building.

It took Dean at least five minutes after Cas had left to remember that he had dropped his keys on the ground. It took him at least another five find them, open the door, get in and start the car. Dean was practically shaking from excitement and bubbling with joy as he drove home.

Dean couldn't believe he had just been invited to join a fucking band.

And it wasn't just any band either. It was Castiel fucking Novak's band.

~~~

The whole house was dark and quiet when Dean arrived home. His father's truck was in the driveway, informing Dean that he had actually come home tonight. Silently, Dean prayed that his dad was passed out on the sofa or in his bed so he wouldn't yell at him and ruin this perfect night. John knew better than to mess with Sam, especially when Dean was gone, because Dean had put the fear of God in him the one time he had tried to scream at him. Though he was a little nerdy (Okay, well maybe a lot nerdy) he could still hold his own if his brother was involved.

The Impala rumbled loudly as Dean pulled into the driveway beside the dark black truck. He only hoped that her wonderful engine hadn't woken anyone up in the house.

Dean pulled the key from her engine and tried to walk into the house with the skills of a mouse.

When he opened the door, Dean found John was laid out on the sofa like he had guessed, with a beer in his hand and the TV screen tuned to what looked like an episode of Cops.

Holding his breath the whole way, Dean crept past his father and headed down the hall towards his own room. He considered taking a shower to get the sweaty smoky smell off his skin, but it would just be easier to take it in the morning.

As Dean passed Sam's room, he found that all the lights were dark.  _'Maybe Sam actually went to bed.'_ Dean thought to himself. Normally, if Dean was out somewhere Sam would try his damnedest to stay away just so he could see that he had come home okay. It was a sweet thought, but Dean didn't want Sam sacrificing his sleep for him.

Dean closed Sam's door so it was just cracked open a hair, before he traveled down to his own warm inviting bed.

As he walked into his room Dean nearly jumped out of his skin.

There, curled up under the covers was a pair of sparkling eyes looking up at him eagerly.

"Jesus! Fuck Sammy! You about gave me a damn heart attack."  _'Wouldn't be the first one tonight.'_ He added in his head.

"Sorry Dean." Sam said as he sat up. "I couldn't sleep so I came in here to wait for you."

"I can see that." Dean said with a smirk on his face.

Quickly he turned around in the dark room and stripped off his jeans (because who the fuck wants to sleep in jeans) before climbing into bed beside his brother.

"Can I sleep in here with you?" Sam asked him curiously as he looked up into his face.

Dean rolled his eyes and feigned annoyance as he said, "Well you're already in here aren't you?"

Sam smirked at him and said, "Thanks Dean."

Dean pulled the blankets across his body and snuggled under their warmth as Sam scooted closer to him. Sam had been doing this for years. It didn't matter than Sam was practically too long for the bed already, but he still had this strange fascination with sleeping in the same room with him. Dean was just happy that his brother still wanted to sleep in the same room with him even though he now knew about his secret attraction to guys.

As they lay there in bed, Sam's eyes quickly slid shit  _'You little shit. You're gonna be exhausted in the morning. You shouldn't have stayed up to see me.'_ Dean thought to himself as he looked down at the fragile sleeping face beside his.

Dean was certain that he wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight. His mind was still too much of a blur from his conversation with Cas. He actually kinda felt like he was floating on cloud nine.

Suddenly, a thought rose to his mind. Dean glanced at Sam, who was breathing lightly and seemed to be asleep now, before he pulled out his phone and stared at the dark screen.

_'I wonder if I should send Cas a text... Should I wait until tomorrow?'_ Dean glanced over at Sam again and wondered if the phone light would wake his brother up. Sam could be a light sleeper at times. _'I at least need to check the time...'_ Dean thought.

Turning the screen away from Sam just a little bit, Dean clicked the button on the side of the phone and watched as the screen lit up.  _-1:30 am- 'Shit... it's late...'_ Dean swore to himself.  _'Guess I stayed out just a little later than I thought I would.'_

He contemplated his options for just a minute before finally concluding,  _'Cas is probably already fucking sleeping... I should probably leave him alone. I'll text him tomorrow.'_

"Dean..." Came Sam's sleepy voice beside him. "Whoever it is you're thinking about texting, just do it. If they gave you their number, just go for it."

_'Fuck'_ "Oh. Uh- Sammy. Sorry... I didn't mean to keep you up. I can just text Ca- the person in the morning." Dean's eyes squeezed shut as he hoped Sam didn't almost hear who he was going to say.

Dean had no such luck, of course. That kid didn't miss anything. Sam's eyes shot open as he asked, "Who were you about to say?"

"N-no one...." Dean lied as he tried to play it off cool.  _'I am so failing at playing it cool...'_

"Were you about to say Cas? As in the very Castiel Novak you have a roaring fucking crush on?"

"Fuck off Sammy." Dean grumbled in embarrassment as he tried to roll over and look away from those glistening chocolate eyes.

"Oh my God!" Sam said in excitement. Dean could practically feel the joy bubbling off his brother. Sam seemed almost more excited than he had been.  _'So much for getting him to sleep then...'_

"Dean! You have to tell me what happened!" Sam's clumsy, tired hands gripped his shoulder and tried to force him to roll back over and face him.

"It's not a big deal Sam..." Dean said as he bit his lips.

"But it is though!" Sam succeeded in pulling him back over to look at him, much to Dean's utter annoyance. "Not just anyone gets Castiel's number and you know it! Haven't you guys been in the same classes for like  _ever?_ "

Dean rolled his eyes through the dark and finally admitted, "Yeah we have.... He heard me singing after the show and he came over to talk to me."

He tried to leave it at that but being an annoying little brother like he was; Sam tried to push him for more information.

"Anddd? What happened after that?" Sam squeaked.

"Why do you need to know?" Dean snapped at his brother.

"Because, you are clueless when it comes to dating and I'm gonna help you out so you don't fuck this up!" Sam exclaimed, his teeth glinting in the moonlight.

"Fuck you Sam." Dean grumbled. "What the hell do you know about dating?"

"A lot fucking more than you do!" Sam said with a smirk.

Dean rolled his eyes and tried to turn over again, but he was once again stopped by his brother's hand.

"What else happened Dean?"

"You're so fucking annoying Sam." Dean said with a scowl.  _'There is no fucking way that I'm going to be able to get out of this....'_ He thought to himself so he finally said, "He asked if I wanted to join the Fallen Angels."

Sam was utterly silent for was seemed like years. When Dean finally looked down at him he saw that Sam was staring at him open mouthed. "Oh please God tell me you agreed to join!" Sam finally said.

"Yeah, I did. Then he gave me his number and told me that he would even teach me to play guitar. He wanted me to hang out after the show but I needed to get home."

"Dean you dumbass you should have gone with him!  He so has a crush on you!" Sam exclaimed with an excited squeal of joy.

"I don't think he does." Dean insisted. "It was just a band invite. Besides, like I said earlier I'm pretty sure he's straight."  _'I'm not gonna mention that awkward moment where it seemed like we were gonna kiss... Fuck that might have just been my imagination for Christ sake.'_

"Dean you better fucking text him right now!" Sam said beaming at his brother.

"But... it's late..."

"And the kid is in a rock band. I'm sure he's awake!" Sam insisted.

"You're so annoying Sam." Dean moaned.

"You'll thank me when you have a boyfriend."

Dean grumbled under his breath and picked up the phone. He hurriedly clicked out  _'Hey Cas, this is Dean Winchester :)'_

His finger hovered over the send button as he contemplated whether or not he was going to send it.

"Either you press send or I'm pressing it for you." Came Sam's voice from beside him.

"Go the fuck to sleep Sam." Dean growled.

"Fuck you." Came his brother's sleepy response.

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

Dean sighed, held his breath and pressed the send button, watching as the message moved up on the screen signaling that it had been sent. He looked at the number at the top of his screen 785-224-1967 Dean was determined to memorize that number if it was the last thing he did.  _'I have fucking Castiel Novak's phone number!'_ He screamed to himself.

He clicked the button on the side of his phone and shut off the light on the screen. Then he plugged the device in and set it beside him, finally trying to drift off to sleep.

Dean was just on the edge of falling asleep when he heard - _bzz bzz-_ Signaling him that he had a text.

Quickly, he reached for the phone nearly having a heart attack as he hoped to God that it was Cas.  _'Who else would it be?'_ He suddenly asked himself.  _'Sam is the only other person I text...'_

The light nearly blinded Dean as he unlocked his phone and opened up the message. It was from Cas! He had been right!

With a fluttering heart Dean read to himself,  _'Hey Dean! Hope I'm not keeping you up, but you wanna meet me and the rest of the gang in the band room tomorrow before first block?'_

Dean let out a sigh of delight as he read the message over and over. Cas had really truly had invited him to hang out with the band again! He was really serious about this! How cool was that?

"What did he say?" Sam mumbled sleepily beside him.

"Go to sleep Sam." Dean said in a hushed whisper. Apparently he still wasn't asleep.

"What did he say Dean?" Sam asked again as he cracked his eyes open just a hair.

"He wants me to meet him Gabriel and Balthazar in the band room tomorrow morning."

"You better tell him yes." Sam hummed before rolling over and drifted back to sleep.  _'Sam probably won't even remember this in the morning.'_

Dean smirked at Sam as before he quickly typed back,  _'Yeah okay! That sounds great! I'll be there.' -send_

Then he set his phone down once again and drifted off into a light sleep dreaming of what it was going to be like being in a band.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Song: Imaginary Lover - Atlanta Rhythm Section


	2. Can't Help Falling In Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry that this update took so long, I've just had one hell of a month pass by me. I don't plan on making you guys wait that long for another update. But anyways, Enjoy the chapter! :)

The next thing Dean registered was his alarm clock screaming at him and telling him to get up. Beside him Sam squirmed sleepily groaning in protest to the clocks insistent noise. Eventually Dean cracked his eyes open to the morning light and brought his hand down to slap at the top of his clock.

"Fucking clock." Dean complained as he wiped the sleep from his eyes and peered at the time on the clock beside him.

"Shit!" he hissed suddenly as he saw the green numbers on the clocks flash one as they changed to read 7:45am.

They had fifteen minutes.

"God damn it. Sam up and at 'em, we gotta go!" Dean exclaimed as he rolled over and hurriedly he shook his brother fully awake.

Sam was instantly awake the next minute and scrambling out of bed. His brother had always been kind of a light sleeper. Sam was now wide awake, taking note of the time as he began to rush, realizing that they would probably get marked absent or tardy if the two of them didn't kick it into high gear like now.

'So much for that’s shower I wanted to take...' Dean thought glumly to himself as he scrambled around in his closet.

Without much thought to his outfit Dean quickly grabbed a gray shirt off the hanger and pulled on the ripped jeans from the concert. They were the closest pant to him at the moment and at this moment he didn’t have time to look for any other pants. These would have to work for today.

Almost simultaneously both boys rushed into the bathroom now dressed hurriedly, book bags slung over their shoulders as they quickly brushed their teeth and fixed their messy morning hair. (Sam's hair generally took a lot longer than Dean's did. All he had to do was comb his fingers through his hair and bingo he was done. Sam made the whole thing a long ass process)

Dean winked at Sam lightly as he finished up in the bathroom before turning and rushing back into his room to retrieve his phone from the night stand and grab keys to the Impala before darting into the kitchen to get them both breakfast.

Before he could even make it into the kitchen he was met by a loud low snoring sound from the sofa. Dean instantly skidded to a halt as his eyes fell upon the shadowy form of his father still sleeping deeply on the sofa. In all honesty Dean had forgotten he was there, normally John wasn't there in the mornings when they left for school, or ever really. (Which was actually a good thing) He usually only showed up after school hours and would hang around long enough for Dean to get him some beer and make him some dinner then John would be off again to go drown himself further into his self-pity and drown himself with alcohol.  
Quietly slipping past John, Dean somehow made it into the kitchen and was able to grab both him and Sam a muffin before hurriedly hushing Sam, gesturing to their sleeping father as he came tearing down the hallway moments later.

Dean let out a relived breath of air as Sam understood his gestures and slowed his pace and stayed quiet as he rushed to put his shoes on.  
Before Dean knew what was happening next, they were both out of the house, in the car and on the road, heading off to school.

"Well this is just an awesome way to start off a Friday..." Dean grumbled as he gripped the wheel tiredly. Last night had really hit him hard. He could still feel the sleepiness in his bones and the effects of exposure to the smoke that had been in the air around him.

"Stay positive." Sam goaded him with his own sleepy smile.

Dean was about to give Sam some smartass remark, but he stopped when something positive actually did pop into his head. Images and memories from the previous night came flooding back to him, making him smile broadly.

"What?" Sam asked him curiously, a small smirk seemed to be playing on Sam’s lips as he apparently noticed Dean's sudden mood shift.

Dean was still grinning ear to ear as he turned to Sam and breathed, “I'm gonna be in a band Sammy."

Sam's face broke into a smile too. The feeling was infectious and Dean could tell his brother was proud of him. "That's gonna be great Dean! You’re gonna kick ass in a rock band!" Sam exclaimed as he took a bite of the muffin Dean had just handed over to him.

Dean was still smiling as he began to hum softly to himself, eat his own muffin and thinking happy thoughts as they got closer and closer to the school.

As Dean continued to hum and started to drum out beats with his fingers on the wheel Sam turned to him and asked, "Hey, weren't you gonna meet Cas in like the band room or something this morning?"

Dean's humming immediately cut short and he felt his eyes widen to the size of a dinner platter. His heart skipped a beat as he bit his lip and arched his eyebrows in concern.

In sort of a daze Dean heard himself whisper, "Son of a bitch."

As Dean tried to focus on the road as he felt Sam's eyes watching him closely. Due to his mixture of tiredness and elation from the night before and the rush that him and Sam had been in that morning Dean had completely forgotten that he had said he was going to meet Cas before class started.

"Sam- dude... What if... What if..." Dean broke off and threw a worried look in Sam's direction. Dean was almost too scared to voice his question out loud. In a whisper he finally asked, "What If he decides that he doesn't want me in the band anymore."

Sam rolled his eyes and looked at him with a sort of amused little smirk on his face.

"Dean," Sam started, "You worry too much. Cas won't kick you out. He is a really chill guy okay? He doesn't ask just anyone to be in his band. You know as well as I do that Cas is very devoted to the fallen angels. He wouldn't have asked you to join if he didn't think you would help move them forward and help keep them together."

"But-" Dean tried to speak but Sam interrupted him as the Impala purred into the school parking lot.

"No Dean, just listen. All you have to do is explain to him that you slept in too late, okay?"

Dean pursed his lips but stayed quiet as he quickly pulled baby into a park space. 'Fuck I hope Sam is right about Cas...'

Once Dean had shut off the Impala’s engine cut off both him and Sam hurriedly rushed out of the car and sped walked towards the main doors. Once they walked inside they called out their quick goodbyes as they walked off in different directions.

Dean watched with a small smile as Sam ran off with a moose like gallop, following the crowd of moving people as they headed towards their classes.

As long as Sam got to class okay, Dean was happy. He could deal with anything punishment that would come his way if he was late as long as Sam was alright.

Dean's heart leapt and broke his daze as he suddenly heard the sprint bell ring loudly. If he could help it, he wasn’t planning on being late either. He had three minutes to get all the way across the school to his class. Maybe he could make it if he sped walked his way through the crowd. He needed to move quickly as a mouse, or maybe it was a squirrel he couldn’t remember. The bottom line was that he needed to get to class ASAP.

He dodged around people, weaving in and out of the crowds with expert skills as he rushed down to 'B Hall' for his Gov/Econ class.

People blurred past him and color flashed before his eyes as he ran, avoiding all the administrators along the way. Out of breath and tired, Dean somehow managed to get to class without crashing into anyone or finding one of his bullies looking to mess his day up even more.

When Dean finally stopped running, he stood outside the classroom door for just a minute to catch his breath. 'Jesus Christ.' He thought to himself. 'I can't do something like this again. I’m am not in good enough shape to do shit like this.' Dean could literally count on one hand just how many times he had been late for school. This wasn't something that happened to him very often.

"Hey rock geek." Came a voice from behind Dean.

He turned curiously, trying to place why the voice was so familiar. Dean nearly had a heart attack when he saw a pair of brilliant blue eyes walking his way. There was no way he could mistake those eyes for anyone else’s. They were absolutely stunning.

'Oh my God it’s Cas' Dean thought to himself as he tried to act natural and straighten his hair. Hopefully he wasn’t making too much of a fool of himself.

"Uh, Cas, hey, you- I uh... look about this morning... I'm sorry." Dean stammered as he flushed red and looked down at the floor. "S-sorry about not being in the band room this morning.... I- I slept into too late and-"

"Hey, whoa there Batman don't sweat it. It’s fine; we can just hang later on okay?" Cas said with a smile as he tried to take a comforting step forward. “After all, I do have your number don’t I?”

Dean’s whole body seemed to be hyperaware of that single step closer that Cas had just made. It seemed anything but comforting to Dean. As the air shifted around him Dean suddenly caught a whiff of the sweet smelling axe that Cas always wore. He nearly passed out from the sheer bliss of it all.

‘Oh God look at how close he is to me. I could seriously just reach out and touch him!’ Dean thought, trying not to panic too badly. To make up for his awkwardness Dean slowly asked, “D-did you just call me Batman?”

Cas smirked at Dean, ‘Shit, that smile could kill’, “I might have.” Cas commented, winking at Dean with those brilliant blue eyes.

'He is seriously trying to kill me isn’t he?’ Dean said as he tried to catch his breath. He wasn’t even running this time and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. ‘Compose yourself Winchester!' Dean scolded himself as he tried not to moan in desire. 'Cas won't want me in the band if he knows that I like him...'

When Dean didn’t say anything else Cas said, “Hey, you know, why don't you just sit with us at lunch?" Dean’s mind was lost in those perfect plush, pale lips, listening to Castiel’s gruff voice as he asked, "You have first lunch right?"

Dean reached up and nervously ran his fingers through his hair again. He needed to think of an answer that wasn’t just a garbled string of unintelligible sounds. 'Come on, answer! He asked you a fucking question Dean.' He screamed at himself. “Y-yeah, first. I-I have first lunch, that would be great. I-I mean I would like to sit at your table, if that’s… if you’re okay with it…"

"Well I invited you didn’t I?” Cas asked with a smirk.

Dean felt his face flush red. He should have known that. Cas wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t want Dean there. ‘Maybe he just wants you to come so he can make fun of you and make you look fucking dumb.’ Dean thought to himself.

However, he quickly tried to shake off the thought as Cas began to excitedly say, "I can even show you the band room at lunch!”

“O-okay…” Dean hummed trying to absorb everything Cas was telling him. “T-that would be g-great!”

Cas smiled happily as he suddenly nodded towards the classroom behind Dean and say, “You better get into class. The bell’s probably about to ring.”

"Right... Yeah... Class..." Dean gestured to his classroom awkwardly and stumbled backwards.

"See ya nerd." Cas said as he waved and stepped back and turned to probably to go off to his own class.

Dean tried to watch Cas go, but he tripped over his own feet, weighed down by his own backpack as he lost sight of the boy just as the final bell rang.

Today was going to be a very long day, Dean could already tell.

He rushed into the class hoping that the teacher wasn’t going to send him to the office for not being in the classroom before the bell rang. Many of his teachers often did that to people. If you were even one second late it was like the fucking apocalypse had started. His school was serious about time regulations.

Fortunately for him, his teachers back was facing towards Dean so he was able to casually slip into his seat without her noticing.

As Dean quickly pulled his books out of his back, he quickly began to feel the stares of people standing around him.

This was a feeling that he was pretty used to by now. The other kids would glare at him constantly as he answered questions right or if a particular teacher favored him, or even if they just decided that they didn’t like him because he was a nerd or they had heard something about him from others. It was a never ending cycle of hate that Dean couldn’t seem to get away from.

However, today felt different. These stares weren’t the cold, hard looks he had been getting since the start of middle school. What he couldn’t figure out was why they were staring at him like that. Had he grown a second head or something?

Dean looked up tentatively as he tried his hardest not to notice the eyes of girls and guys all around the room. He didn’t like all the attention. This was a harder type of tension to avoid. People were actually trying to make eye contact with him instead of their usual blank glares.

As the teacher started her lesson a small folded piece of paper landed on Dean’s desk. Dean looked sideways wondering who could have passed him that note. No one passed him anything. Especially not little folded up notes. As Dean looked for the sender of the note he was suddenly met with a pair of dark chocolate eyes and a face that was surrounded by the dark brown hair of none other than Lisa Braeden.

She nodded towards the note, smiling just a hair as she motioned for him to open it up and read it. He looked down in confusion, wondering what in the hell Lisa could want with him.

Everyone knew she was the school whore. She hooked up with anyone who was anyone, as long as they made her look good, which is why she had never spared him more than a second glance. Dean was a nobody and he knew it. He never had been anyone. All people saw him as was a weirdo nerd that everyone just liked to beat up all the time. Why should Lisa look at him anyways? He was nothing special, just a plain boring guy, with a plain boring life. There was nothing relatively interesting about him and all the fandom nonsense stuff that he liked.

No one at this school liked that kind of stuff. Dean was literally the definition of a lone fish in a giant sea of familiar faces.

Even if Lisa had been interested in him a long time ago it wasn’t like he would go out with Lisa if she asked him out. Last time Dean checked he didn’t really swung that way (Cas was proof of that), but it was still the point that no one really paid much attention to him even if there was a possibility of there being a chance between them.

Sometimes being all by himself got lonely but he had never really become accustomed to hanging out with many people. Sam had no idea the true extent of his solitude. His brother thought he had at least a few friends when in reality that wasn’t the case at all.

Since he had never really hung out with too many people he didn’t really feel that he needed people to make him happy. All he really needed was Sam, Netflix, music, and maybe Cas… That would be cool too.  
Dean slowly lifted the note on his desk and watched the teacher carefully as he opened up the note. Making sure that the teacher was deeply involved in her lesson Dean quickly opened the note and read the scrawled message written on the inside.

‘Hey, what up hot stuff. Looking good today. Love the new look. Maybe we could hang after school or something, if you know what I mean. ;)’

Dean just stared at the note in confusion. Why the hell would she try to hang with him now after all this time? ‘What did I do different today?’

He suddenly looked down at himself, trying to figure out what was different about him. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach Dean realized that he was wearing his AC-DC band tee and the same ripped jeans from the night before. His usual nerd gear was gone, the only thing that still indicated he was a nerd was the glasses, and his oversized brain of course. That was why everyone was staring at him. He never looked like this and now people were taking notice.

‘Fuck. Can I go back to being the nobody?’

He was so enwrapped in what he was wearing and how he looked that Dean didn’t notice that the teacher, Abaddon, with her flaming red hair and too red lipstick had stepped up beside him and was now glaring down at him with a look of irritation on her face.

“Now what might that be Mr. Winchester?” She asked in that overbearing, queen of the world attitude she always seemed to possess.

“I-its-” Dean glanced over at Lisa who was now glaring at him with a look of distaste. That look clearly said, ‘Tell her who gave you that and you’re dead.’ “It’s nothing...” Dean mumbled as he tried to crumple the note up and look down at his desk.

He knew that if he said anything Lisa would kick his ass and he would just take it for some unknown reason like he always did. Then, she would tell her boyfriend Michael about it and twist the story to make it seem like Dean was the one who gave her the note flirted with her. Dean knew that Michael would believe her, and then Dean would be even more black and blue than before.

Either way he was fucked… Everyone knew that Lisa always cheated on Michael on what seemed like practically a daily basis. Hell it happened so much that even Michael knew about it, but apparently she gave really amazing blow jobs, which is why Michael stuck with her in their strange really fucked up relationship. (Not to mention that she was actually pretty hot… well to a straight guy anyways).

Abaddon, furiously ripped the note from his finger tips and hissed, “Don’t you dare try to fucking lie to me Winchester.”

She quickly unrumpled the note and looked down at it reading it with distain as a sneer spread across her face.

"And who was this for?" She asked and her eyes glinted with mischief.

"No one..." Dean hummed softly as he looked down at his desk.

Dean was sure that Abaddon was the only teacher who hated him more than Crowley did. Dean hated her back. Dean wasn’t really sure how or why she had even gotten a teaching license anyways. She did an utterly shitty job all the way around.

"Stand up and read it then." She hissed as she smacked the note back down onto the table in front of him.

Dean absently wondered what the odds of a meteor coming down and hitting him right now was. 'I'm probably just better off stuffing the note in my mouth and eating it.' He thought to himself. ’On second thought she would probably just make me spit it back out and piece it back together to read it.'

Dean stubbornly sat in place, hoping that maybe she really wasn’t going to make him stand up and read it.

He figured that she hated him because he knew Gov/Econ way better than she did. Hell Dean could probably teach the class perfectly without even trying.

Dean groaned internally and cursed himself as seconds later Abaddon practically forced the paper into his face at the same moment as she yanked Dean from his seat and forcing him into a standing position.  
“It either is this or a weeks’ worth of ISS Winchester.” Abaddon hissed.

‘ISS would almost be better than this.’ Dean thought scornfully to himself. ‘At least I wouldn’t have to look at her ugly ass face for the rest of the week.’

Dean wished that he had the guts to say that to her. He wished that he could be more verbal like Cas and stand up for himself, but Dean knew with a sinking feeling in his chest that he would always be the push over nerdy door mat for every to walk all over. If he didn’t take it, then it would all spill over onto Sam. Dean had learned that one the hard way and he was determined to never let Sam take a fall for him again.

He sighed in defeat, his face flushing a deep red color as he looked down at the note in his face and pulled it away, forcefully from Abaddon.

Taking a small step away from her, Dean read aloud in strained, halting words what Lisa had written him on the note she had passed him. ‘I want to kill her. I want to fucking kill her.’ Dean hissed in his mind, shocked by the sudden anger that he was feeling towards her. ‘Since when do I get angry?’ He asked himself.

When Dean had finished, he just stood there red faced and ready to melt into the floor. He couldn’t believe he had just been forced to read something like that out loud. That hadn’t even been his note! He wasn’t the kind of person to say any of that at all! Fuck, he would never use a word like hot stuff or come to my house if you know what I mean. He had never even had a girlfriend before, much less a girlfriend. The words and actions sex and kissing were as foreign to him as getting an ‘F’ on a test was to Sam.

All around him, the class was laughing their asses off. They were now all making even more fun of him than before. Everyone was pointing and making kiss noises or sexual moans and groans at him. Dean wished that they would all just shut up and leave him alone. They all knew he hadn’t been the one to write the note, he was just the easiest one to pick on is what it all came down to. He was the universal school punching bag.

Dean’s face reddened as he heard one girl whisper not very quietly, “I can’t believe he thought he could even act cool. He’s a fucking nerd. Doesn’t Winchester know that nerds can’t be cool?”

The laughter erupted again and Dean’s eyes dropped to the floor as he continued to stand stiffly next to Abaddon while she looked down at him with a smug look of satisfaction on her face. She seemed to get a high out of making him feel like an idiot. He was convinced that she only did this to him because he knew more about Gov/Econ than she did. Dean could literally do her job way better than his teacher could.  
However, as of now, none of that was on Dean’s mind. All he could think about was how he wanted nothing more than to run out of the room and hide himself away in the bathrooms for the rest of the day, but that would only make him look even worse. He wasn’t going add pussy, baby, and wimp to his ever growing list of nicknames. Dean already had enough. He just needed to stand here until Abaddon finally gave him the okay to sit down again. Until that time he would stand here and silently send hateful daggers in her direction.

After what seemed like years Abaddon finally said, “I hope that teaches you not to pass notes again Mr. Winchester. Now, sit down and start working before I decide that your face irritates me even more and makes me just send you straight down to ISS anyways.”

Dean quickly sat back down in his seat, listening to the whispers all around him. Slowly he reached up and pushed his glasses back up his nose as they slid down his face before picking up his pencil and copying down the notes from the board.

As Abaddon’s heals clacked across the linoleum and back to her desk, Dean tried to ignore the soft ‘psstt’ sounds coming from the right of him. He didn’t have to look to know that it was Lisa calling to him again. ‘Maybe if I don’t move she won’t see me.’ Dean thought dryly to himself. ‘After all, she is just as stupid as a t-rex. So maybe, it will be like Jurassic Park.’

Unfortunately, his Jurassic Park theory failed, because only a few minutes later he felt little balls of paper hitting in the side of the head. Lisa had resorted to tearing up her notebook paper and tossing it at him to try and get his attention.

Dean refrained himself from rolling his eyes as he took in a deep, steady breath of air. Today was totally not the day to be fucking with him and his patience was quickly running thin. This lack of sleep thing wasn’t really a good thing for him. Normally he didn’t get like this; he would just typically ignore everything and everyone that fucked with him. That didn’t necessarily make anyone leave him alone or anything, it just made school a little less of the living hell that it always was.

Finally, after about ten little bits of paper had been thrown at him, Dean looked up slowly and glared at Lisa, whose look of concentration had turned into a sickly sweet smile. Dean was about ready to slap her at that was really saying something seeing that he had never slapped anyone before.

Dean watched as Lisa winked at him and blew him a little kiss. Dean just knew that she was mocking him now. Her moment of trying to hook up with him had passed. He wouldn’t have been surprised if getting him in trouble was her plan all along.

He sighed and shook his head looking away from her and wanting to just melt into the floor. ‘Why do they always pick on me?’ Dean asked himself.

Even as he thought the words a small voice in his head whispered to him and reminded him that nerds weren’t cool and that he deserved this. He deserved to be treated like this because he wasn’t cool or popular or anything like Castiel. He could have done way better with his life, but no, he had to be a fucking nerdy fandom geek with a brain too advanced to be normal, but not smart enough to be considered a genius. There was a point in time where he thought he had been accepted by the other brainiacs in the school, but when they learned about his unhealthy obsession with fandoms even they had pushed him aside with words like ‘dork’ and ‘loser’. His life was just a curse wrapped up in a nightmare.

‘Why can’t I be more like Cas? Or even Sam? How can my brother even look up to me? I’m a fucking failure. Why would Cas even want me to be in his damn band? Doesn’t he know I’m the school loser?’ Dean thought to himself as he once again went back to ignoring Lisa and resumed his note taking. ‘Hell, Cas probably thought I was someone else, find out just how uncool I am and kick me out of the band after two fucking minutes of me being there. Then I’ll go back to being lame ass, nerdy, no talent Dean Winchester.’ Dean’s felt horrible. He just wanted to go home already. His amazing night last night had been masked by the doom and gloom cloudy that was forced over his head at school.

As these thought continued to bounce around Dean’s head he was surprised to find that the rest of his class passed by in a semi peaceful state (Other than the continued paper pelting he was receiving from Lisa, and the people around him continuing to whisper, stare and laugh at him as bits of paper occasionally stuck in his hair). There fortunately enough were no more big blowouts in class so Dean called it a fairly successful day.

Dean let out a sigh of relief when he finally heard the bell ringing, indicating that he could finally leave and go on to second block. He liked his second block better than first block; his teacher was at least kinda nice to him in that class. Also, it meant that he was one class closer to going home for the day. ‘Don’t forget, tomorrow is Saturday, so you can at least have a little peace. One class down, only five more to go.’ He reminded himself as he stood up quickly.

He hurriedly slung his backpack over his shoulder and tried to rush out of the room before Lisa caught up with him and tried talking to him. ‘I just need to get lost in the sea of people in the hallways.’  
“Hey Dean.” She called from behind him just as he walked out the door. “Wait up!”

‘Fuck.’ He swore to himself. ‘So much for that plan.’ He thought, hoping that maybe if he acted like he couldn’t hear her and just walked faster she would get the hint.

Apparently she didn’t get it because the next thing he knew she called out, “Dean!” as she clamped her hand down hard on his shoulder, making him pause and miss half a step. He stumbled slightly and bit back the urge to flip her off as he regained his balance.

‘Did she fucking hurtle over those desks Olympic medalist style? How the hell did she get to me so fast?’ He asked himself with a slight grimace.  
“Didn’t you hear me calling you?” She asked him with a disgusting look of bemusement on her face.

“I-uh… no, I didn’t hear you calling me…” Dean mumbled off his lie, trying to shake off her hand and keep walking down the crowded hallway.

“Oh.” She said in an irritated voice, “Well I was calling to you.”

“Huh…” Dean hummed absently pursing his lips slightly as Lisa suddenly hooked her arm through his and continued to walk.

“Well, anyways, I like the new look. You don’t look quite as fucking dumb as normal. It’s defiantly an improvement from your stupid plaid shirt, but I’m just saying that you’re gonna have to change some more if you want to get with someone like me.” She chirped joyfully.

Dean rolled his eyes and glared at her, ‘What that supposed to be a complement? Did I ask you for your input? I would rather be struck down by God himself than have to date you or someone like you’ He thought to himself quietly as he walked. Dean didn’t dare voice his opinion out loud for fear of an ass whopping later on.

Apparently her comment was supposed to be a complement of some sort, because she looked up at him like she wanted him to thank her for what she said.

When Dean said nothing she made a huffing noise from her nose and her face soured, but that quickly changed as her hand suddenly trailed down the back of Dean’s leg just a little and gripped his ass. Her hand squeezed his ass slightly making Dean want to flinch away in disgust, for Christ’s sake they were in the middle of the fucking hallways, but it was clear that Lisa didn’t care at all. She looked up him and tried to bat her makeup drenched eyelashes at she asked, “So you doing anything fun tonight? I could actually help you from looking so stupid, and maybe… well…. We can see where it goes from there. So you busy?”

“Yeah he is actually!” Someone said on Dean’s other side, making him jump violently in surprise. Dean had no idea who had just come to his rescue but God was he thankful for that person (even if they had just scared the shit out of him). Lisa’s hand immediately moved off his leg and just resumed it position of hooking through Dean’s arm instead.

As Dean looked towards the person who was walking beside him now, Dean nearly had a heart attack.

It was Cas in all his wonderful angelic glory.

As he tried to get over the shock of the situation Cas spoke up and said, “Damn Winchester, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Dean’s heart raced even faster as Cas winked at him and brushed up against him slightly in order to pass through the cramped, busy hallways.

Dean was sure that his heart was going to literally fail from how fast his pulse was racing. Both the unexpected fright he had just received and from the fact that Castiel was standing close enough to touch in the overcrowded hallways was enough to make anyone keel over dead.

“Oh yeah?” Lisa snapped, half annoyed at Castiel’s interruption.

“Yeah.” Cas hummed back in response, flashing Lisa a lazy award winning smile.

‘Nope, I am so not jealous. Not jealous at all.’ Dean thought to himself, ‘I get why he likes Lisa. She’s hot… And I’m TOTALLY not jealous at all...’  
As Cas smiled at Lisa, she immediately turned her attention to him and turned up the flirt meter. She was so much better at flirting than he was. ‘Who is she to flirt with my crush? That’s my job!’ He thought to himself.

Dean hated that she had a sort of grace and charm about her, in her own sick way, while he was nothing more than an awkward gay virgin who had less romantic experience than a damn tree. He wished he could be a sex God so Castiel would like him. Hell he just needed Cas to like him in general. That would be the first step.

Dean had to bite down his anger as he watched Lisa bat her ridiculous eyes at him and use her free hand to twirl at her long dark hair. “If Dean’s doing something tonight then, I guess I’ll ask you then, I mean, I can show you a real good time in the bedroom if you like.”

He closed her eyes ever so slightly, apparently trying to be seductive, but to Dean it looked like she had been hit with pepper spray and wanted to be kicked in the face. Dean would gladly kick her teeth in for her, but you know, Michael’s wrath was intimidating. Lucifer would probably come help his brother Michael. How dare she try to get with my man! ‘God I hate her so fucking much.’ Dean thought to himself.

As they continued to walk Dean realized just how much she hated Lisa. The more words that fell from her lips the faster Dean’s face started flushing deep shades of red. Why did she seriously have to impose herself on them? She was seriously just mocking Dean now and completely ignoring him because Cas came around. (He didn’t care that she was ignoring him, he would rather not talk to her, but she was trying to hit up Cas and that wasn’t okay). There was just something seriously fucked up about that.

“So, you know, if you’re up for it, I sure know how to make a guy feel good. My tongue will take you to heaven and I will totally rock your-”

Cas interrupted Lisa and said, “Yeah, thanks but no thanks. I’m not interested okay? How about instead of becoming even more of a cheating slut than you already are, you just go blow your actual boyfriend. I’ve heard he’s got more than one cock; his prick and his attitude. They say that his dickish personality just overcompensates for what he is lacking down below. Me and Dean both have plans tonight, so just leave.”  
Dean’s jaw was kind of hanging open in shock. He didn’t know whether to laugh (which he was very tempted to do) or run away to avoid being punched by Lisa. Cas had just flat out disrespected Lisa and Michael behind her boyfriend’s back. No one and I mean no one disrespected Lisa and Michael. Well, no one whose face didn’t get a serious beat down afterwards.

Lisa looked like she had fire coming out of her ears. Dean almost thought she was going to try and kick Castiel’s ass. However, she surprised him, Lisa looked at Dean, well… glared at him would be a better word for it. There was clear hate in her face that was meant for both him and Cas. He knew that he should have run away and acted like he hadn’t ever been there. Now he was screwed. He could just tell by the look on her face that he would be the one to feel Lisa’s anger at Cas. No one dared to touch Cas because of his brother Gabriel, but him? He was just a pawn that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Dean was going to get his ass beat despite everything he had done to get rid of her and keep her happy.

‘Fuck…’ Dean swore silently to himself, trying not to let the pain and fear show through. ‘I can’t show any signs of weakness. That will only make it worse later on.’  
With a sideways glace at Cas, Dean saw the cold hard determined look on his face. A pang in chest made him realize that he was more than willing to take a beating for Cas. As long as the love of his life (and Sammy of course) didn’t get hurt, than Dean didn’t really care what happened to him. He would literally jump in front of a bullet for the both of them.

Finally, Lisa stormed away from them, flipped them both off and pushed her way violently down the hall.

The two of them were quiet for a minute, standing completely still in the busty hallway before Cas looked over at Dean and finally said, “Well fuck, I thought she’d never leave.”

Dean pulled himself from his daze and looked over at Cas with a smile. He wasn’t really sure what to say so he just laughed as they turned onto another hall. ‘Maybe he really doesn’t like Lisa then. What was I so worried about?’

It was then, as Dean stared into Castiel’s brilliant blue eyes that he realized that Cas was just a little bit shorter than him. It wasn’t much, maybe an inch in a half difference, but it still came as a shock to Dean. He wasn’t even sure why he was noticing something so irrelevant at the moment.

‘Fuck, Dean! Hey get your head out of the clouds!’ He scolded himself when he realized that he was staring deep into those endless blue eyes.

Suddenly coming back down to reality Dean looked over at Cas asked, “So uh, what is it that we’re supposedly doing tonight?”

Castiel’s face lit up, quickly brushing away the weird silence as he said, “Ah, you picked up on that did ya?”

Dean nodded slowly but said nothing, waiting for Cas to continue. He was genuinely curious about why Cas had even come to his aid in the first place.

“Well, I was hoping that you could maybe after school you would come with me and hang with the rest of the band tonight. We’ve got rehearsals tonight and me and the other guys wanted to see if you would tag along.” Cas explained. “We could even teach you somethings, ya know since you’re gonna join us and all!”

Dean knew his face was probably a mixture of confusion and shock as he tried to take in what Castiel had just told him. ‘Did I just get invited to a fallen angel’s band rehearsal? I think I just fucking did. Oh my God…’

“I-uh… yeah… I mean sure, if you guys want me to come.” Dean said as he tried to grasp desperately for words that were failing him like normal. He didn’t possess the fine arts of socialization or human interaction which always proved to be a problem.

“Of course we want you to come! I mean you are a part of our band now right?” Cas said flashing his white teeth at Dean.

He felt his face darken again and heat up, he couldn’t help but hear how wrong Castiel’s first words were, (Who says nerds can’t have dirty minds) but Dean tried to act normalish and kinda just nod slowly as he said, “Yeah, I guess I am gonna be in the band.”

“Exactly! Great so we’ll meet up after school in let’s say… in the lunch room?”” Cas threw his arm around Dean’s shoulder for a minute and they continued to walk down the hall.

Dean swore his heart stopped for a minute as he felt Castiel’s warm body pressing into his side.

“Y-Yeah… sounds g-great…” He hummed excitedly as his thoughts jumbled up. He couldn’t believe that Castiel had just invited him to hang out tonight and the fact that his arm was still hung loosely across his shoulders. How had his life become so perfect in such a short amount of time? Yes, there were still the bad parts, but right now none of that mattered, because Castiel Fucking Novak has his arm around my shoulders!”

After a minute, Cas was forced to remove his arm because the hallways were getting more and more crowded as people pressed through to find their friends and get to their classes. Dean tried not to let his disappointment show as they walked. ‘Stupid fucking hallways…’

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Dean so he looked up at Cas and said, “Hey, uh… I’ll have to drop my little brother off at home first.”

“Not a problem.” Cas said with a smile.

Dean was relieved that Cas hadn’t changed his mind. It made him feel just a little bit better.

The two of them walked happily side by side in the hallways. After a minute of this wonderful silence Cas looked back over at Dean and smiled again as he asked “So, what class do you have next Winchester?”  
Dean smiled up at Cas as they made small talk. He almost lost himself in those eyes once again but he forced himself to look away as he half ran into someone and tried to collect his thoughts at the same time. Castiel’s eyes could make anyone forget even their own name faster than the neuralyzers in the Men in Black movies.

“I-uh… I have English 4 with Naomi.” Dean finally said when his thoughts reorganized.

“Oh… damn, she doesn’t really like me much.” Cas said with a snort.

Dean cocked his head to the side and cautiously asked, “Why?” It wasn’t often that she didn’t like one of her students. Most of them listened to her pretty well.

Cas chuckled lightly and said, “She tried to control me. She didn’t seem to like how rebellious I was and apparently I should ‘follow the rules before I get myself in trouble’ and I need ‘to learn how to write essays, not stories and songs’.”

Dean looked up in time to see Cas use air quotes to emphasize his point as he rolled his eyes.

He smirked softly at the boy and laughed as he said, “I guess I should have known. Naomi likes things going by the books. She doesn’t really like rule breakers.”

“What are you trying to say Winchester?” Cas asked with arched eyebrows.

Dean’s face immediately flushed red. ‘Oh my God did I just offend him? Is he the only one allowed to say that he’s a rebel?’ “I- just…uh… sorry-”

Dean’s face continued to shift into deeper shades of red with each passing second as he tried and failed to think of something to apologize to Cas. He was so awkward. ‘Why can’t I have good social skills? Jesus Fucking Christ Dean. Pull it together man!’

“Woah, hey, calm down!” Cas said with a curious smirk on his face. “Hey, look at me.”

With a lot of hesitation Dean slowly looked up into Castiel’s face without meeting the boy’s eyes.

“No, I mean, really look at me.” Cas goaded him as his smirk seemed to get wider.

It took all his willpower to look up into those electric blue eyes and not just run away down the hallways to escape his moment of embarrassment.

When their eyes finally met, Cas said, “I was just joking Dean. I didn’t mean to upset you or make you uncomfortable.”

Dean pursed his lips, now he felt even dumber. ‘I can’t even fucking tell when Cas is joking with me… great.’

“Oh, I uh…. I totally knew that…” Dean mumbled as he once again pulled his eyes away from Castiel’s.

They both walk in silence before Dean looked back over at Cas and suddenly asked, “What class did you just come from?” Last time he checked, he had never remembered seeing Cas down this hallway during this particular block before. Dean was kind of curious as to why he was here.

“Spanish 3 down on ‘C’ hall.” Cas said casually as they got close to Dean’s class room.

Dean nearly stopped dead in his tracks, making a girl behind him practically smash into him because she was too busy texting her boyfriend. As soon as she saw who he was she gave him a nasty look, whispered, “Get the fuck pit of the way loser.” So no one could hear her and stormed off past them.

Dean pursed his lips slightly in annoyance as Dean looked after her. Cas seemed utterly oblivious to what had just went down. Dean figured it would be better that way.

“S-so….uh… ‘C’ hall… that’s nowhere near where my class is… H-how did you get over here so fast?” Dean asked once he recovered from his small collision and continued walking again.

“I cut the last five or so minutes. By the time the bell rang I just happened to end up near your hallway, and then I saw who was with you so I figured you needed an out.” Cas explained as they stopped outside of his classroom.

Dean smiled to himself lightly, Cas had chosen to come and talk to him. He had wanted to help him get rid of Lisa so that right there made Dean happier than he had been all day so far. He couldn’t help but ask him, “So, where are you going now then?” to keep the conversation alive between them. (Of course he wasn’t trying to stalk Cas through all of his classes. He was just chatting… right?) "I'm going upstairs to Phycology with Missouri Moseley ."  

Dean's face become confused again as he looked at Cas. He had taken one of Missouri's classes last semester. She was a little strange what with her love of fortunes and prophecies, but overall she was a really great teacher. However, if Dean was thinking correctly, her classroom was literally on the opposite end of the school.

“Isn’t her classroom… Wait… why are you walking me to my classes if it takes you longer to get to your classes? You’ll probably be late if you stick with me!”

Cas smirked at Dean with a sly smile but said nothing. Then he winked at Dean and walked away leaving him watching after him more confused than ever.

Dean had no idea what just happened. Cas was by far one of the most confusing people he had ever met. Dean was still standing in the same exact place, watching Cas leave with a dumbfounded look on his face.  
Just before Cas turned the corner at the end of the now almost empty hallway he turned around and said, “Maybe I just enjoy your company and like talking with you Winchester. You ever think about that?”

Dean stood flabbergasted outside the door to his classroom. He didn’t really know what to say, not that he had too, Cas was already gone, but he had no idea how to react now.

How could anyone like talking to him? Hell he had hadn’t even said anything even relatively interesting to Cas. In somewhat of a daze Dean scampered into class and sat down at his desk.

All around him people were bustling around him nosily, talking and laughing casually with their friends while Dean sat there alone. Dean was completely silent partly from the dazed feeling that Cas had left him with and partly because he never really talked unless he had too. He had learned a while ago that he didn’t really like anyone in this class enough to talk to them. Even if someone tried talking to him now he probably wouldn’t even pay much attention to them, why should he? They were basically all douchebags anyways.

“Hey! Dean!” Exclaimed an excited female voice as an extensive mop of soft red hair suddenly flashed in front of his face.

He jumped and hurriedly blinked trying to focus on the person who had practically leapt onto his desk.

“C-Charlie?” Dean said hesitantly as the redhead beamed down at him with a bubbly look spread across her angular face.

“Did ya miss me?” She asked with a wink, her smile growing wider at the fact that he still remembered her name.

Dean smiled back at her and said, “I didn’t know you had this class.”

“Yep! I’ve been in here since the beginning of the semester.” She joked lightly as he sat up on his desk. “I just generally wear my invisibility cloak so you can’t see me.”

“Huh…” Dean hummed with a small laugh, appreciating the Harry Potter reference. “I’ve never noticed you before, but that’s not saying much, I don’t really talk to anyone in this class.”

Charlie sighed dramatically and said, “Well… I guess I can forgive you this once, but you better not let it happen again!”

As they laughed together a girl who Dean was pretty sure went by the name Bella Talbot walked past them and gave them a disgusted look.

“What’s your problem?” Charlie demanded in a bored voice as she met Bella’s eyes.

Dean immediately looked down at his desk, not wanting to engage himself with any more trouble than he was probably going to get from Michael later on. He was pretty sure that Bella was a part of Michael and Lisa’s little clique of friends.

“I was just wondering how a gay nerd and a lesbian nerd seem to become friends.” Bella cooed with venom in her voice. “Doesn’t that kinda defeat the point of being gay and all?”

Dean’s face immediately flushed red. He had been called gay more than a few times in his life since he never visibly had a romantic interest, but he had never flat out told anyone that he was gay. That would only make things worse for him.

“I’m not gay…” Dean grumbled under his breath, trying to prevent that from an even more popular nickname. If he didn’t try to stop now it that’s exactly what it would become.

“Yeah, say’s the senior who’s never been with a girl before.” Bella said as he looked down at Dean with distain and rolled her eyes.

“Listen bitch, just because he isn’t a whore like you doesn’t make him gay.” Charlie said, stepping up in Dean’s defense.

Dean couldn’t help but wince just a little bit. He would be feeling that later on from Michael’s fists too.

“Oh really now?” Bella snapped. “Say’s the lesbian who hits on almost all the girls at the school. Haven’t you gotten the point that they aren’t interested? You’re the only lesbian in this whole fucking school!”

Dean hated being in the middle of this drama. He just wanted to sink into the floor and never come back. ‘I just want to go home already.’

Charlie snorted, seemingly oblivious to Dean’s discomfort as she said, “How would you know that? Have you been experimenting?”

Bella gasped and said, “How dare you suggest such a thing? Are you- is this a lesbian form of flirting or something?”

Charlie really laughed now. Her hair fell around her face as she was reduced to a giggling mess still sitting on Dean’s desk. All Dean could do was sit there and put his arm out behind her to make sure she wouldn’t fall off the desk completely as she tried to stop laughing.

“Oh darling, I can buy a five dollar meal at Mc Donald that’s better than what you’ve got going on down there. I wouldn’t eat you out even if you had been medically sterilized, much less try to flirt with you. I don’t order my girls with a side of slut.”

Bella’s face flushed tomato red, unable to think of a comeback as Dean now burst into laughter. He couldn’t help himself; Charlie defiantly knew how to hold her own!

“Whatever.” She snapped as she stalked off to her own desk now.

“You like that?” Charlie asked, wiping tears from her eyes as she looked down at Dean.

Dean nodded, wiping away his own tears and saying, “You’ve defiantly got spunk Charlie. Don’t lose that.”

“Well thank you.” She chirped as she bowed slightly and added, “It comes naturally.”

It was at this point that his teacher, Naomi finally walked into the room with a stack of papers in her hands and called for everyone to get settled down.

Charlie bode him a quick goodbye before jumping off his desk and walking back over to her own desk.

Dean was sad to see her go, because he genuinely liked talking with her, but Naomi wasn’t about to let them switch seats anytime soon.

While the teacher passed out paper and handed back graded assignments Dean moved off into a daydream again. Sometimes he wondered how the hell he was the star student in some of his classes because of how much he always zoned so much. Thank God he was a quick learner and usually knew what his teachers were talking about already.

Dean just kept replaying each moment with Castiel, both yesterday and today. He started from the concert, when Castiel had made eye contact with him on stage moving all the way up to just before this class. It was more than enough to put a smile into his face.

However, Dean’s smile vanished pretty quickly when he felt something hit him in the back of the head. It felt like a spitball. Dean hated spitballs. They were so disgusting and annoying, which made it hard to focus.

He tried to think of Cas again as Naomi came around and passed out worksheets for them all to work on. Dean mindlessly took what she handed him and began powering through the worksheet before she even explained what they were supposed to do, but Dean already knew.

He just needed something to keep his mind busy for a little while and work always seemed to do the trick. The time always flew when he was working.

A little while later, a buzzing in his pants pocket got his attention. He carefully looked around, wondering why the hell Sam would be texting him in the middle of class. He was going to kill that kid; Sam needed to focus on his lessons, not texting.

Dean carefully pulled out his phone and placed it where the teacher didn’t know what he was doing. It wasn’t like she would suspect him anyways, Dean never pulled out his phone in class. Until yesterday his contact list hadn’t really consisted of anyone he wanted to text 24/7, much less someone who would actually want to text him back.

His heart sped up when he saw the name Castiel flash across his screen. He couldn’t believe that Cas had sent him a text in the middle of class.

‘What if he had gotten me in trouble?’ Dean thought to himself. It was with a wave of shock that Dean realized that he didn’t really care if Cas got him in trouble.

Dean once again looked up to make sure that no one was watching him before looking back down at his phone and opening the message.

It said: ‘Hey there young Jedi Winchester, Master Obi Wan Kenobi is using the force to text you and ask if it is possible for you to get out of class and come say hi to me in the band room?’

Dean’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion. What was Cas saying, class had started 45 minutes ago, there was still 15 minutes left. ‘Did he just use geek language to ask me to ditch class?’ He asked himself. Cas was beginning to become even more of a mystery to him. ‘Does this mean that he’s into nerdy stuff too? Cas is becoming more and more perfect every second!’

Looking with only his eyes this time as not to draw attention to himself, Dean looked around the room again trying to make sure that no one was noticing him texting.

No one had noticed.

He scoffed to himself, ‘That’s right, why would they be paying attention to you? No one likes you Dean.’

Charlie was the only one who Dean might have worried about catching him, but her chair was at least two rows ahead of his and a few rows over. Besides, she seemed pretty chill, Dean didn’t figure that she would rat him out anyways.

Going back to his phone Dean quickly typed back, ‘Is Master Obi Wan Kenobi asking me to ditch class?’

He smirked slightly as he set his phone on his knee and sat back in his chair while Naomi told the class that their lesson was over for the day and that everyone could do whatever they wanted for the next fifteen minutes if they were all quiet.

The class immediately burst into low whispers as everyone packed up their bags and moved to sit closer to their friends.

As Dean packed up his own back, the phone on his knee suddenly buzzed against his leg making him jump and nearly drop it onto the floor. That would have been one hell of a way to blow his cover.

With slightly shaking fingers Dean carefully opened the text message from Cas.

His heart leapt as he read the single word that Cas had sent back to him. ‘Duh’

He could almost hear the amusement in Castiel’s voice just from this text alone. Dean could see the raised eyebrows and the tiny smile that played around his lips now. The thought of that made Dean smirk ever so slightly.

Apparently Dean didn’t respond quickly enough because Cas sent him another message right that read, ‘Come on Winchester. Don’t let me down here. I know Naomi gives you fifteen minutes off free time at the end of class.’

He twiddled his thumbs carefully over the keyboard trying to think of something he could say back to Cas. There was no way that Naomi would let him out early. How would he even say that? ‘Oh yeah teacher I know there’s fifteen minutes left but I need to ditch class and go to the band room to hand out with my new bandmates, would that be okay?’ He could totally see that conversation going just great. It would be a sure fire way to land his ass in ISS. Naomi was another one of those strict douchey teachers he had. Besides, he had never ditched class before! The teacher would probably know exactly what he was up to.

Dean was so absorbed in thinking of something to say to Cas that he didn’t even realize when Charlie came over to him again. She must have crept up behind him while he was thinking because her long hair made him jump as it tickled the back of his neck while she whispered, “Ohhhh texting in class are we Dean?”

Dean’s face flushed a deep shade of red as he quickly clicked off the phone screen and turned hurriedly around to face Charlie.

His face must have reflected a good deal of fear and shock because she just rolled her eyes and laughed as she said, “Relax Dean, I won’t tell the weeping angel over there.” Charlie nodded in the general direction of Naomi’s desk.

Dean smirked and relaxed just a little bit laughing slightly at the Doctor Who reference.

“So I’m guessing you’re a Whovian then?” She asked with an appreciative smile on her face. She clearly realized that he understood that reference. In the back of his head Dean wondered if Cas would understand that reference too.

“Yes I am, trust me I’m the Doctor.” Dean said with a small wink as he carefully let free a little part of his nerd side.

Dean was defiantly a little cautious about showing his dweeb side to anyone. That wasn’t a part of him that he let many people see, every time he had shown it to anyone he would get strange looks from people or they would only listen partly to his little rants. It was kind of hard being the only fan boy in a world full of cold darkness and painful season finales. He had no one to discuss his fandoms with! Well… no one who cared anyways and Sam could only understand so much fandom information at a time, so it all just build up inside of him and he had to keep the excitement and sad loneliness to himself. (Okay yes, he did get lonely every now and then when he realized that there was no one to share in his excitement with.) Maybe that’s why he had created his Tumblr account so long ago. It gave him a way to connect and talk with others without feeling so alone, it wasn’t perfect, but it was defiantly something.

The smile on Charlie’s face told Dean that it was worth it to show her that side of him. He instantly knew that she was exactly the kind of friend he had been looking for. She was the nerdy best friend he had been searching for throughout high school and he had finally found her.

“So, Doctor, who were you texting just then?” She asked with a sly rising of her eyebrow.

He considered telling her that it was no one, and pushing it off to the side, but Dean had a feeling that she would end up making him tell her one way or another.

With a small bite of his lip Dean’s face flushed red as he said, “I- I was texting Cas.”

Charlie’s eyes widened in shock and delight as she nearly squealed, “You’ve got his number? How?”

Dean shrugged, “I ended up talking to him after the show last night and he gave me his number.”

“Oh my God!” She clapped her hands to her face and Dean knew a full scale fan girl attack would be coming along very soon if he didn’t calm her down. He could simply see the signs. Things like these often happened to Dean, especially if he saw a particularly cute (or smutty) fan art of his many OTP’s while out in public or something. It never failed to make him gush and turn dark red when he would realize that there were actually people around him.

“Calm down Charlie.” Dean cautioned her as he glanced towards the teacher as he reached out to comfort her. He didn’t exactly want her to draw attention to themselves. Attention could kinda be a bad thing, especially now.

Before Dean could place a hand on her arm to calm her she clutched his hand and squeaked, “I totally ship it!” Then in a lower voice she added, “Please tell me you were kidding when you said you weren’t gay?”

Dean’s face darkened again and he found himself unable to meet Charlie’s eyes again.

“I knew it!” She yelped in a silent celebration. “My gaydar has yet to fail me! So… now back to the topic of Destiel then.”

“Desti-what?” Dean asked as he risked a look back up into Charlie’s exuberant face.

“Destiel! It’s the newest ship between this little adorable nerdy boy and the lead singer of the hottest punk rock band in Lawrence Kansas.”

Dean hurriedly clasped his hands over his face in embarrassment. He was sure that if his face got any warmer he would turn into the surface of the sun.

“So, Sherlock, what did dear old John Watson say to you? Are there plans for a date?” Charlie pressed when Dean stayed utterly quiet, lost in his embarrassment.

Throughout this conversation with Charlie he had completely forgotten about Castiel’s request and the fact that he hadn’t yet replied to it.

Hurriedly he checked his phone and saw that only four minutes had passed, there was still time left in class, and there was even still time to go and meet Cas if he wanted to.

“Uh- he… he wanted me to ditch the last couple minutes of class to meet him in the band room.” Dean said in a hushed whisper as he looked all around himself.

Part of him was still shock that he had so willing opened up to Charlie already. Maybe it was just that fact that she seemed like a likeable and easily trustable person. Dean felt like she was the kind of girl who would take secrets to the grave if she was asked to, take a bullet for someone in the face of death, and kill anyone who tried to mess with the ones she cared about. Dean just knew he could trust her. She seemed to be kinda like Sam, like family already.

Dean swore that the noise emitted from Charlie’s mouth wasn’t human. Dean couldn’t help but wince just a little bit when Charlie’s noise earned her a very stern sounding hushing noise from Naomi, who was now looking up at the two of them sitting side by side.

“Do you realize what that sounds like Dean?” She chirped happily, her voice considerably lower now.

He shook his head slowly watching her eager face.

“That sounds like the start to every cute, hot fanfiction ever. Boy gets phone number, boy gets invited somewhere alone by other boy. A lot of cute fluffy stuff and kissing happens, then finally sex in the supply closet.”

Dean’s mouth was hanging slightly agape as he listen to Charlie go on and on about this situation.

When she finished she just looked at Dean and asked, “What? Too far? It’s the truth though.”

“I-uh… Charlie, I’m going to meet the band there… Not have… uh- Cas apparently he wants me to join their band.

“Holy Lord of the Rings! Dean that’s even fucking better! But just keep in mind the sex will come eventually. Anyways, what did you tell him?”

“I didn’t say anything to him.”

“You left him hanging?” She squeaked, tugging the phone free from Dean’s hand and clicking on the screen.

Dean silently cursed himself for not having a lock on it as he tried to reach for it. He had never needed one; no one ever took his phone. Charlie smirked gleefully as she held the phone well out of his reach and typed back a reply.

“Charlie, give that back!” Dean gasped desperately, hoping that they weren’t drawing too much attention to themselves.

They weren’t. No one was even looking in their direction, not even the teacher, thank God. That would have been even more embarrassing for him.

“There you go.” Charlie finally said as he tossed his phone back at him lightly.

Quickly, he turned on the screen and looked at the message she had just sent Cas.

He groaned silently to himself and glared up at Charlie. She had written back, ‘I’ll be there in two minutes.’

“Why would you do that?” He moaned. “I don’t even know how the hell I’m gonna get out of class!”

“Ask her if you can go to the library and read for the last few minutes. That always works. She’ll even write you a pass and everything, but she never fills out the pass all the way so you can just write that you’re going to the band room or where ever the hell you wanna go.”

As Charlie talked his phone vibrated again and he looked down to see that Cas had sent him back, ‘Great! See ya there.’

“See that proves my theory!” She said him beaming, “That means he’s interested.”

“No it doesn’t!” Dean retorted looking down at his phone in dismay. “Charlie seriously I don’t think he’s even-”

“Oh he totally digs you I promise.”

“How do you-”

Charlie interrupted Dean once again and just said one simple word. “Gaydar.”

Dean rolled his eyes and shoved his phone into his back pocket and stood up to sling his backpack over his shoulder.

“You’re a douche.” Dean grumbled as he turned to glare half seriously at Charlie and her flaming red hair.

“It’s never wrong Dean.” She said with a wiggle of her eyebrows

“What if I get in caught?” Dean asked her as he bit his lip again.

She shrugged nonchalantly and said, “Courage isn’t just a matter of not being frightened, you know. It’s being afraid and doing what you have to do anyways.”

“Did you just- was that a quote from the third doctor?” Dean asked her slowly.

“Damn, you’re good.” She said, clearly impressed with his vast knowledge of even the original Doctor Who episodes. Then she jumped back into reality and added, “Now go get’em tiger.” As she gave him a small slap on the ass.

Dean jumped a little in surprise but recovered quickly and rolled his eye before turning and walking up to Naomi’s desk hesitantly. He felt like she would just be able to sniff out his lie and get him in trouble. Like, maybe she could smell fear and would attack at a moment’s notice like a rabid animal.

“Yes? Can I help you Mr. Winchester.” Naomi asked, her dark suit contrasting her pale face and deep red hair well, but still making her look more and more like a drill Sargent. That stern overbearing look on her face also didn’t help to calm his nerves.

‘Just relax Winchester.’ Dean told himself. ‘Imagine that you’re Shawn Spencer. You can talk you way into or out of anywhere. Just play it cool.’

“Uh- yes, Ma’am, may I go to the library for the remaining class time? The room had gotten a little bit too loud for me to focus.”

Naomi looked around at the children gathered around the room laughing a joking freely; it was true that the room had gotten quite loud. Hopefully Naomi would let him leave instead of simply hushing everyone and sending them all back to their seats. He needed to go see Cas! He had already told him he would be there... Well Charlie had sent the message but still…

Dean had to fight hard to resist look over at Charlie, who he was pretty sure was still sitting in the same place. He was sure that if he tried to glance at Charlie he would either A- lose his nerve or B- Naomi would figure out what he was up too. His best bet was to just keep his eyes forward and focus on the teachers face and breathing normally.

‘Please, please, please.’ He silently begged.

To his utter relief Naomi simply shrugged after a minute and said, “I guess so, I don’t see why that wouldn’t be okay.” She looked up at him briefly with her intrusive silvery eyes before bending down and finally pulling out her pink passes. She wrote quickly, writing him out of class with her long scrolling spidery handwriting that clearly reflected her personality.

The entire time she was writing Dean held his breath hoping that she wouldn’t suddenly have a change of heart and make him go sit down again.

“Thank you so much Ma’am!” Dean said excitedly as she tore off the pink pass and handed it up to him. He had to fight hard to contain his excitement and joy. He could believe that he had actually gotten away with at least one difficult parts of this crazy plan. Well, so far he had gotten away with it. All he had to do now was to not get caught.

“Anytime Dean.” Naomi said with a soft smile on her face. It wasn’t like a real smile, Dean noted, but it was defiantly more of a smile than anyone else could ever get out of her. He guessed that he had to count that as some sort of victory.

Dean turned and tried to walk calmly to the door, as Charlie caught his eye. She winked at him with a sly smile on her face while she made a small heart with her hands as he left.

Just as Dean was about to open the door and walk out Naomi called after him, making him stop in his tracks. His breath caught in his throat, and his hand felt like an ice cube as he gripped the door knob tightly.  
He turned slowly with fear in his heart as he turned to look back at the strict face of his teacher.

The only think he could think of in this moment was, ‘Fuck. I’ve been caught. What the hell gave it away? Was it Charlie winking at him? How the hell will I ever get out of this one?’

However, all Naomi said to him was, “Have a good weekend Mr. Winchester. See you Monday.”

Dean nodded back at her and told her to do the same as he finally threw open the door and walked out into the hallways. He was free of the class room this time. Thank God.

He noted how strange it was to be in these halls without hordes of people clambering down them, talking, laughing, and kissing their boyfriends and girlfriends. It was strangely peaceful in a way that Dean really appreciated. He hated these halls more than anything else. He forcefully pushed aside the memories of being been beaten to hell more than once down these hallways and just appreciated the silence that he was surrounded by.

‘I wish the halls were always this damn quiet…’ He thought to himself as he ran a hand through his messy hair and tucked his pink pass into his pocket.

Dean quietly hummed the words to his favorite Fallen Angel’s song as he stealthily sped walked down each hallway. The hardest part of this mission now was to get all the way to the band room, which wasn’t too far from his classroom, without running into anyone or getting questioned by a teacher.

By some miracle Dean got into the band room without a hitch. The fates must have seriously been on his side today, which was pretty rare for him. What made it even better was that he was the only one in here, Cas hadn’t gotten here yet. Dean smiled and the continued silence, looking around the room and taking in everything he saw. He didn’t come in here much since academics always had priority over music or any ‘fun school subjects’ but he had visited this room on occasion. It had just never been empty when he visited. There were usually at least half a dozen or so people in the band room at any given time.

‘I figured Cas would already be here…’ Dean thought to himself worriedly as his typical nerves began to set in ‘What if this was a set up or something to embarrass me further or get me in trouble… Is Cas that kind of person?’

“Oh God…” He hummed aloud, speaking out loud in an attempt to help keep himself from a full blown panic attack. “Don’t freak out. Think happy thoughts. Uhh… Johnlock, Cecilos, NinexRose, Desti-” Dean broke off, remembering the ship that Charlie had told him about earlier. His heart race double-time as he walked slowly over to the microphone stands on the mini, makeshift stage in the large band room. Destiel was much different than those other ships. He was sure that this ship would probably never sail like a few of the others had already, but this one, unlike the rest was a real ship between two very real people. This couldn’t be happening to him. It was crazy. Cas was straight!

Dean now stood shyly behind one of the microphones, all alone in this giant room. Tentatively he reached down and touched the mic in front of him. It wasn’t like it was on or anything, but the mic still fascinated him. He had always secretly wondered what it would be like to perform on stage and be a big shot, adored by millions. Now there was a very good possibly that he would be singing on a real life stage soon. He imagined himself belting words into his own microphone, his own words, and maybe even his own songs one day standing happily right beside Castiel on a wide stage with hundreds of fans screaming his name.  
Pulling the mic ever so slightly closer to himself Dean cleared his through and began talking softly to himself, waiting to see if Cas would actually show up. He was just trying to kill time.

“Hello listeners, this is Dean Winchester, Cecil is currently out right now, fighting off hordes of giant oversized termites that seem to keep erupting from his house as it hovers in midair. Maybe if Carlos and his perfect, perfect hair were here, he could use his scientist knowledge to save his boyfriend from eminent death and destruction. I wonder when Cecil will be back. Maybe Carlos will even be with him next time we see them, but who knows how long that might be. It could take him a week, a month, or even a year. We might never know unless Cecil one day comes back to the studio.” Dean smirked to himself, was this how it felt to be a big name actor, rock star, or just even popular? ‘Probably not… this is just you being a fucking weird ass lame-o’ He thought to himself.

“So listeners, I leave you with this” Came a deep voice from the band room door.

Dean’s head shot up, his eyes wide and scared, knowing he had been caught, but not yet knowing by whom.

Dean froze and his eyes locked into place as he saw someone leaning lazily against the door frame, a smirk on his perfect lips and lighting up his beautiful face. Castiel’s dark hair soft hair could easily put Carlos’ to shame while his ripped jean jacket showed off his tanned muscular arms, and his brilliant blue eyes met Dean’s shy green ones.

Those damn eyes seemed to pierce into his very soul and look at his very essence as he continued to speak in his deep, gruff low sexy voice, “Speak with a slow tongue because many find that their words are their downfall, while those who are silent find power in silence. Only those who think before they speak will regret the least of their decisions in life. And remember the thing under you bed already knows what you did, so silent or not, don’t try to hide, it’s already too late. The thing is already coming for you.”

Cas paused, tilting his head slightly to the side, his soft pale lips parted ever so slightly before humming, “Good night Nightvale, good night…”

Dean knew that his mouth was hanging slightly agape, looking at Castiel in shock as he leaned up again the wall, his piercings glinting in the poor lighting of the unused band room.

“Y-you know what Nightvale is?” Dean finally managed to stutter after what seemed like an extended silence that filled the entire room.

Cas pushed off of the wall and strode towards Dean, his arms swinging slightly as he grinned lazily and walked towards him. Dean’s eyes couldn’t help but follow the little swaying motion that he seemed to be making as he walked. It seemed to be lulling him into a hypnotic trance that he couldn’t break free from.

“Yeah of course I do, I ain’t that fandom retarded.” Cas scoffed.

Dean smirked back slowly climbing down off the little stage he was standing on and sat down on the side.

Cas quickly grabbed one of the schools uncomfortable red chairs over to him. Dean arched his eyebrows in amusement as Cas spun the chair around and sat on it backwards, straddling the seat and relaxing his arms along the top back of it.

“I… I just didn’t expect that. It’s not that often I find someone who’s heard of Nightvale, much less listened listens to them.”

“Well, its defiantly not Star Trek, but they are still pretty great. It should have more popularity than it does.” Cas said with a smirk.

Dean hummed his agreement and shifted shyly on the stage, Cas was watching his every move with the eyes of a hawk. Dean tried to ignore the constant staring, but it was proving to be rather difficult and his face was quickly growing redder and redder with each passing second.

His mind seemed to be flying a million miles an hour as those shining eyes followed his every movement. Dean was sure that he was forever frozen into a stone because of those glorious blue eyes. Somehow Dean just couldn’t look away from Cas as much as his embarrassment told him to. It was like Cas was a Weeping Angel and he needed to keep his eyes on the boy in order to live. It was like the possibility of looking away would result in his eminent death.

‘Fuck, he’s hot, funny, in a band, and likes Star Trek and Nightvale? Holy shit can he be any more perfect than he already is? Cas can’t be real. I must be already dead and up in heaven with an angel at my feet… or maybe this is hell since the perfect guy is standing right in front of me but is just so far out of my league.’ Dean was quickly losing himself in his thoughts as he marveled over Castiel’s obvious perfection.

“Well uh- hey, thanks for not blowing me off Dean.” Cas said with a confident smile. Dean shivered slightly as he listened to Cas murmur his name like a melody. “I’m glad you came here. I hate waiting here all by myself and well, you make for some pretty good company.”

Dean tilted his head slightly to the side; awestruck that Cas already liked him so much. He hadn’t really done anything to make Cas like him. If anything, his weird nerdy awkwardness should have scared a tough punk rock bad boy like Cas away. Somehow it just seemed to draw the boy in more. (Not that Dean was complaining or anything.)

It was then that he really noticed that him and Cas were the only two in the band room. They were all alone and no one else was around. Despite Dean very school oriented upbringing, the nerdy/geeky side of him loved his fandoms, and with most fandoms, came fanfiction. In this moment he was trying his hardest not to think of every fanfic ever in his mind that could relate to this silent moment between them. There were so many things that could happen in this very short span of time. ‘Fuck!’ He swore to himself, ‘You can’t do this here, save the fanfiction for home when you’re alone. Damn you for making my mind go here!’ He couldn’t afford to get distracted now, not with Cas somehow feeling even closer that before, the sweet smell of honey flowing off his skin and seeming to mix with a sharp tang on smoke. If he wasn’t careful, Dean knew he would accidentally pop a very unwelcomed boner in his pants.

He would have a hard time explaining that one, ‘Oh yeah this? Yeah this happens to me sometimes when I think of you. Especially when I think about you slowly undressing me and making out with me over there on the band room’s grand piano.’ It would be better to just stop now while he was at least sort of ahead.

“Wh-where are Gabriel and Balthazar?” Dean asked nervously, shaking away his thought and wondering just how long the two of them would get to be alone for. He felt almost strange and uncomfortable being completely alone with Cas.

This feeling wasn’t brought on by feeling awkward because of Cas. This feeling was actually (mostly) brought on by Dean’s own uncertainty about what he would say or do to Cas. Dean was utterly shocked by this feeling; he had never been this way around anyone else he had ever had a crush on in the past. (Not that any of those boys had ever talked to him anyways) With his past crushed it had all just been wishful thinking, but now…. Now maybe he had some sort of chance with Cas slim as that possibility may be.

‘Don’t forget he’s straight Dean!’ He scolded himself mentally. ‘You will never be anything more than friends and you’re just going to have to live with that.’

As Dean talked himself down he watched Cas glanced at his watch and said, “They’re coming here now, it just sometimes takes them a little longer to get out of class and all.”

“Do you guys meet here often?” Dean asked, looking around the band room slowly trying to avoid eye contact with Castiel.

“Generally, yeah.” Cas hummed as he too looked around the room, a slight smile perched upon those perfect lips of his.

‘God, I wonder what it’s like to kiss those beautiful lips.’ Dean swooned to himself.

Only when Castiel looked back at him with those brilliant blue eyes did Dean realize he had been staring again. Quickly he dropped his gaze to the floor and felt his cheeks heating up. ‘Oh God please don’t let him notice this!’

If Cas did notice his embarrassment, he didn’t voice it much to Dean’s relief.

“We normally come in here after second block every Monday, Wednesday and Friday before our classes end.” Cas began explaining to him.

“And the teachers just let you guys leave early?” Dean asked in shock. Most of the teachers at this school were very strict about staying until the bell.

To make things more confusing most teachers at the school hated Cas, Gabriel and Balthazar because they were all so rebellious and disruptive in class. Well, to be honest Castiel was actually the most respectful out of the three of them. The other two, Gabriel and Balthazar, were much more disruptive. Gabriel never stopped pulling pranks, and there were usually a dozen new and strange pranks pulled on teacher and students every week. Balthazar was sneaky and sarcastic, taking things from people and hiding them in other places, sassing the teachers and basically doing whatever he felt like doing at the given time. Cas didn’t generally disrupt while a teacher was talking, but there was no stopping the sassy Cassy when he got his mind set on something. His comebacks could kick ass, and not to mention that he never did his homework yet somehow still managed to get really good grades.

The three boys were defiantly an odd pair but it made them who they were. Dean only wished that he had the same chill relaxed personality as they did. He was sure that he was just going to end up as the awkward goody two shoes kid who would never fit in a rock band setting.

Cas was smirking again as Dean looked back up into his face. “I just think they’re glad to get rid of us all sooner.”

Dean rolled his eyes and said, “Yeah probably, then they might actually get to teach through a whole lesson without interruption.

Cas winked at him, which made Dean’s heart pound wildly in his chest hard enough to where he worried that his heart was might actually leap out of his chest entirely. “I’m just happy they let us out. I get so bored in class.”

“What do you guys even do when you come in here?” Dean asked looking around at the mostly empty room. There wasn’t really much to do in there anyways.

“Usually we’ll just sit around eat, practice some of our songs and write new materials and such.” Cas said airily as he stood slowly out of the red chair and kicked it aside.

Dean’s eyes carefully followed Cas as he seemed to be walking towards him.

Cas was so close to him now, leaning in and bending down just a little bit. Dean’s cheeks turned pink and his breathing speeding up ever so slightly. Cas was nearly level with his face now. He was so close, if Dean just tilted his head up and over just a little bit they would be nose to noise. The distinct smell of axe wafted into Dean’s face, making him just a little bit lightheaded. He wanted to breathe in that smell for the rest of his life.

Dean sighed softly in defeat as Cas ended up sitting down beside him instead of doing something amazing like kissing him. ‘Then again, this isn’t fanfiction… this is real life Dean… Remember that.’ Dean thought glumly to himself as Cas lay his back on the stage.

“So, you’ve really never played guitar?” Cas asked turned his head too look at Dean.

Dean tried to look back at Cas, knowing full well that his cheeks were still just a little flushed from his wild bunny rabbit thought trails.

He shook his head slowly, deciding that it would be less awkward if he too laid back on the stage. “Never.” Dean said softly. “I’ve always kind of wanted to though.”

Castiel’s white teeth flashed stunningly well against Castiel’s lightly tanned and tattooed skin as he replied, “Well, after tonight’s rehearsal I’ll make sure you can at least hold a guitar without dropping it.”

Dean smirked and rolled his eyes. “Don’t be a smart ass Cas.”

“Watch me.” Cas challenged.

Dean had to bite his lip to stop himself from moaning. ‘How can someone be this physically attractive, nerdy, and funny at the same fucking time?’ Dean asked himself. ‘I swear to God I’m dreaming right now.  
None of this is even real.’

“So, Winchester, what’s with your car if you don’t mind me asking? I mean, it really doesn’t fit your general personality or clothing style.”

Dean struggled to look down at his shirt, because he had completely forgotten what shirt he had even been wearing.

Cas shook his head and batted at Dean’s arm to get his attention back on him. “No, I don’t mean that outfit. What you’re wearing now is seriously sick dude. I just mean in general, I’ve seen the button ups and nice pants and such.”

Dean shrugged and said, “It was my dad’s but he gave it to me a couple years ago. At this point he drinks so much that baby would be wrapped up pretzel style around a tree before he even left the house.”

“Yikes, that sounds like a bad hand of cards for you.”

“S’not too bad. I mean I get to drive a sweet classic down the highway, windows down, music blaring.” Dean explained as he began to lose himself once again. He let his fantasies to shift from being filled with

Castiel’s perfect face to the thought of himself sitting in the car with Sam, driving to God knows where to just get out a little on the weekends.

“That part of it sounds awesome!” Cas said with a soft longing smile on his face. “I mean, me and Gabe drive an older car too, but I bet she runs nothing like that Impala of yours.”

“She’s a great machine. Very reliable.” Dean told Cas as he thought of all the car parts flowing and moving in sync with one another. “Maybe I could give you a spin in her one day.”  
Castiel’s face lit up in excitement. Dean could instantly tell that Cas liked this idea a lot so he added, “Maybe like tonight or something? I mean, if we’re still hanging out or whatever. You would just need you to give me directions or something to follow.”

If it was even possible, Castiel’ smile seemed even bigger now. “I would like that. That would be fantastic.”

Dean didn’t miss how Castiel’s voice had shot up and a thick accent was applied as he said the word ‘fantastic’.

Dean smirked to himself and asked, “What are you the 9th doctor?”

Cas shrugged and let a smug little grin tug at the corners of his cheeks as he thickened the accent and said, “If that’s who you want me to be my dear Rose Tyler.”

Dean’s cheeks flushed red once again and he was pretty sure that he was probably now the color of roses. ‘Fuck. Why does he make it so hard for me to resist kissing him?’ He thought to himself.

Cas chuckled at the look on Dean’s face and said, “I’m only kidding Dean, but yeah! Of course we’re stilling hanging out tonight! I wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity to ride in that Impala!”

Dean nodded slowly smile widely as he said, “Alright then sounds like a plan then.”

Cas opened his mouth again to say something more but he stopped when they both heard the sound off feet walking down the halls and voices getting louder.

Dean bit his lips nervously, he really hoped that it was only Gabriel and Balthazar and not some teachers coming to bust their asses for being in here instead of in their classes. He glanced over at Cas who appeared to be calm and collected. Dean was a little surprised that he didn’t even seem worried that it might not be a teacher or something.

As the footsteps got closer and closer Cas stood up and smiled down at him. Dean stayed where he was but let his eyes follow Castiel’s as the boy asked, “So are you ready to meet the guys?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Song: Can't Help Falling in Love - Elvis Presley


	3. Somewhere I Belong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay... soooo this chapter is reallllyy long! I'm just hoping that it's not total trash... :/ XD  
> Anyways I apologize for any errors that I'm sure are in here. They've just managed to avoid my detection so far. :/ lol
> 
> I want to add a quick warning for this chapter tho!  
> There is bullying and violence near the end of the chapter, so just putting that out there!
> 
> ANYWAYYYSS! Enjoy the chapter :D

"Heyyoo Cassie!" Came an exuberant voice from outside the room.

Dean was fidgeting nervously as a boy who he instantly recognized to be Gabriel, came bounding around the corner with a giant goofy looking smile on his face. The boy had longish sandy blonde hair that was slicked backwards and tucked behind his ears like always. He was wearing a pair of very tight looking jeans and a blink 182 tank top that nicely showed off his muscles and little glimpses of the tattoos that he had hidden underneath.

"Cassie you missed it last night!" Gabriel was saying his hair glinting slightly in the poor classroom lighting. "You shouldn't have cut out on us so early last night baby bro! You should have seen the chicks we scored last night!"

Another boy, Dean assumed it could only be Balthazar, came into the room with an equally as broad smile as Gabriel's. Dean had never really seen Balthazar up close before. Yeah they had passed each other in the halls before, and he thought that maybe they might even be in a class or two together, but Balthazar was so new to the band that most people didn’t easily recognize him. Not to mention that he was a transfer student from another school.

Balthazar was a slight man with hair that was shorter and lighter than Gabriel’s. His hair was style in a choppy cut, leaving it to spike up ever so slightly in the front. Balthazar’s shirt was dark gravy with an unusually low V-neck for a guy, with a black leather jacket over top. Around his neck Dean could see the silver chain of some necklace that was hidden underneath the shirt. Because of his jacket you couldn’t tell if Balthazar had any tattoos but he did have a silver stud earing in both ears.

Both boys seemed to be in high spirts and very happy to share their good moods with everyone else in the room.

"Cas ol' mate, blimey they were so bendy and damn you should have seen the size of their-" Balthazar was saying. Dean was just a little shocked when he heard the accent. He had fully expected Balthazar to have an American accent, not a British one. Almost as quickly as Balthazar started his sentence, he broke off and his smile faltered a little as his eyes landed on Dean, "Well, what do we have here? A guest perhaps?" 

Both Balthazar and Gabriel looked towards Cas with unasked questions in their eyes as they tried to figure out who Dean was.

"You didn't tell us to expect visitors Cassie!"  Gabriel said with a cheery smile.  Unlike Balthazar, Gabriel made it seem as if nothing could dampen the mood that he was in now. Maybe those chicks from last night really had been that great, or maybe that was just Gabriel's normal attitude. Time would only tell Dean guessed.

Right now, all he had to do was impress the others so they would let him stay.

"I actually did tell you. _Twice._ ”Cas said with an amused smirk on his face. "Guys this is Dean, Dean Winchester. He's the new guy I was saying we should bring into the band."

"Ah, right! Now I remember! This is the newbie you were talking about." Gabriel said smirking back at his brother. Dean’s heart fluttered slightly at the idea that Cas had already been talking about him. He hoped it was all good things they heard about him.

Dean was always just a little uncertain and paranoid that people wouldn’t like him when they met him. Kinda an irrational fear he guessed, but when you usually have bullies on your ass 24/7 and almost no friends to speak of, you just begin to assume that nobody likes you.

"Hey, wait… I know you!" Balthazar said in a sudden realization as a smile formed on his face.

Dean's eyes widened and his racing heart seemed to freeze for a short span of time. If someone in the band already knew who he was, then his hopes of joining the Fallen Angels had just been dashed against the spikey rocks of an ocean shoreline. No one would want a nerdy guy in their band. Especially if that nerdy guy was him…

"Wait, you already know him?" Cas asked excitedly as he smiled broadly back at Balthazar. Apparently Cas assumed that it was a good that one his bandmates already knew him. Clearly Cas didn’t know Dean quite as well as he thought he did.

 _‘Well Duh!’_  Dean thought to himself _‘You’re the one who knows Cas well, Cas only met you yesterday dumbass! Why should he know who you are?’_

Dean tightened his lips slightly, realizing his error. He had known Cas for years, but never spoken to him so it was clear that Cas wouldn’t know him better than a stick on the ground.

"Yeah, you're that nerdy guy in my Auto Tech class with the nice car.” Balthazar said excitedly pulling Dean’s attention back up to him.

"You're in auto tech?" Dean asked in shock. To be completely honest Dean had never noticed Balthazar before. _‘Probably because you’re too busy thinking about Cas or your baby!’_ He scolded himself.

"Yeah, I know, someone the likes of me in an auto tech class, though I suppose it’s understandable why you never noticed me what with your arse always buried balls deep in that car of yours." 

 _‘Oh shit. That was truly a terrible wording choice.’_ Dean thought as he felt himself blush in embarrassment, he had honestly hopped that no one had really taken notice of him, but apparently he was wrong. _‘I was so fucking wrong. Maybe that’s why no one likes me… I’m just a self-absorbed, antisocial dweeb…’_

“Your words are always just so flattering aren’t they Balthazar.” Cas said with flatly. Dean couldn’t help but notice a slight pink tint on Castiel’s cheeks. Maybe it was just the lighting but damn he looked so hot and kissable right now. He almost lost his cool as he watched Castiel’s pink tongue dart out of his mouth and wet his lips quickly. Suddenly, before Dean had time to look away Castiel turned his head and looked towards Dean.

For a moment it seemed as if time itself had stop and they were left frozen, suspended in the moment.

Fortunately, before Dean had a chance to do something stupid and unmistakably regrettable Gabriel broke the moment between them by saying, "So Deano, I can call you Deano?"

He tried to shake off the strange moment to answer Gabriel, but before he could answer Gabriel just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Eh, well it don’t matter anyways cause, that's what I'm gonna call you."

Dean pursed his lips slightly before opening his mouth and closing it again wordlessly. Slowly he gave Cas a sideways glance and found that the boy was trying his hardest not to laugh. He too seemed to have shaken off the awkward moment they had share. _‘Maybe he didn’t even notice the moment. Maybe it was only you. Did you ever think of that?’_ He scolded himself quickly.

 _‘I bet now he’s probably just gonna laugh at me…’_  Dean thought sadly, _‘He’s probably realizing what a loser I am and how big of a mistake he made by inviting me into his band.’_

Dean closed his eyes for a second and shook his head slightly trying his hardest to focus on Gabriel’s words once again.

"Tell me nerd boy, why should we have you apart of our fabulous band. Or should I say, show us your talent my geeky little friend. I dare say that you have a good bit of talent if Cassie there invited you." Gabriel said, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a sucker from the depths of his pants pockets. He quickly opened up the candy and popped the cherry flavored treat into his mouth.

"I-uh...." Dean stammered nervously, uncertain of what the hell he was supposed to say as he watched the little sucker stick wiggle around in Gabriel’s mouth.

Cas shook his head, no doubt laughing at the dumbstruck look on his face as he walked closer to Dean and said, "Jesus Dean please forgive me. My brother can uh... Come off a little bit strong when you first meet him... I swear he runs off of only candy and moon beams as you can clearly see reflected in his personality."

"Moon beams? What the fuck Cassie, where’d you come up with that one?" Gabriel snorted, grinning wickedly and sucking on the sucker harder.

“I dunno, it just seemed to fit.” Cas said with a little shrug of his shoulders.

Gabriel continued to snicker, rolling his eye at Cas before saying, "I was just getting awkward introductions out of the way."

"Yet you still never gave him your name!" Cas exclaimed with raised eyebrows.

Gabriel batted his hand in dismissal saying, "Pshh... He probably knows who I am! I mean you did say you met him at our concert right? So I’m sure he’s at least heard of me and you already!"

Castiel suddenly squinted at his brother in sudden realization. He opened his mouth slowly as he tried to search for something to say. However, he quickly closed him mouth again clearly at a complete loss for words now.

"You know who I am right?" Gabriel asked, directing his attention to Dean once again.

Dean nodded a quickly before adding, "Yeah, I know who you are."

"See! Problem solved. Introductions out of the way! You're the only one here making things awkward Cassie!"

"Shut up Gabriel!" Cas grumbled, his joking sarcastic tone of voice prominent as he spoke.

"So uh... _fuck_ all this talk of names and I've already forgotten yours!" Gabriel exclaimed looking back over at Dean as Cas sat down on the side of the small wooden stage again. "I know I gave you a nickname, but who are you again?"

Dean chuckled, sitting down next to Cas. He was about to repeat his name to Gabriel when a sudden dorky idea struck him. "You can just call me  _the doctor."_  Dean told them with a cheesy grin on his face.

Gabriel's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he said, "Wait, what? Doctor? Doctor Who?"

Cas immediately began to laugh followed by Dean's laughter too. Dean hadn't expected Gabriel to ask that he had just taken a shot in the dark and nailed.

“Nothing more, just the doctor!”  Dean gasped through his laughter. It was clear that Gabriel was clueless, but what made it even better was that Cas understood the reference.

Cas was just getting better and better every second.

"Ah, never mind Gabriel, just one of my _'nerdy moments'_ I guess." Dean said as he wiped tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Well you better keep those moments coming doctor cause we need some nerdyness in this band of ours so Cas can stop rambling on to me and Balthazar every time one of his fandom's does a canon or whatever it is that makes him lose his mind." Gabriel said smirking at Cas now.

Dean having just recovered from his laughing fit; quickly fell into laughter again at Gabriel’s strange choice of words. As he laughed, Dean couldn't help but notice how Castiel's cheeks flushed red again, but he brushed it off to mean that he was embarrassed about being calling a nerd.

Cas soon seemed to push aside the embarrassment as he too began laughing again, his mood apparently being influenced heavily by Dean’s.

"What did I say this time?" Gabriel asked while Dean clutched his stomach from laughing so hard.

"Holy fuck!" Tears were now streaming freely down Dean's face as he gasped, " _Does a-a canon_."

Castiel's and Dean's laughter was soon filled by the smirking faces of Balthazar and Gabriel as the room with a wonderful light and airy mood.

Dean could totally get used to this! _‘These guys are amazing!’_ He thought to himself.

Once Dean and Cas had finally both calmed down again it took the two of them at least five more minutes to explain what canons and ships were.

"And that's why us fandom geeks flip out when something _becom_ _es_ canon, and it's not ‘ _does a canon’_ in case you were wondering.” Cas said as he leaned up against Dean just a little bit. 

Dean’s heart, which was already racing from excitement, fluttered even faster now as Castiel brushed up against him. What made it even better was that Cas wasn't even pulling away. If anything he was leaning more into Dean's arm the longer they stayed like this.

"Well Deano!" Gabriel paused before exclaiming, "Hey! I remembered you're name! I can still call you doctor if you want though..."

"Either name works, though the doctor does have a nice ring to it... just saying" Dean murmured, looking up at the ceiling what he assumed probably looked like a dazed sort of look on his face. Unintentionally he imagined himself In the TARDIS, Cas his companion by his side-

"Okay dreamer boy, come back down to earth."  Gabriel said as he snapped his fingers a few times in front of Dean's face.

Dean blinked one, twice, a third time and laughed to himself, flushing just a little bit for letting himself zone our like that. He would save that kind of nerdyness for when he finished early in class or late at night when he couldn't sleep and needed an adventure to run off into.

"Uh, sorry. Sorta blanked for a second there." Dean said apologetically as he flushed deeper red and looked down at the floor again.

"I noticed. Cas does that little blanking out thing too. It’s like… you’re here, but your mind is a million miles away, off on some secret world adventure.” Gabriel said laughing cheerily. “So don't worry about it! We have plenty experience with that kinda thing."

“I think he goes into his own world at least ah… four or five times a day.” Balthazar said with a teasing wink at Cas.

"God guys nothing like giving away all my secrets to scare off our new recruit!" Cas said with a light glare at Gabriel and Balthazar.

The others just smirked and pulled the chairs they had sat in closer into the circle, tightening the little group they had all formed. “Just watching out for ya Cassie!” Gabriel said in a mocking voice.

“So, what do you think?” Balthazar said as he looked over at Gabriel.

Dean’s eyes were instantly weary, unsure what was going to come out of Gabriel’s mouth. He knew what was being asked. This was the moment of truth, the space of time that could very well change his entire life.

 Gabriel pondered the question for a moment, a look of deep consideration on his face. After what felt like years Gabriel made Dean jump by suddenly thrusting his hand towards Dean and saying, "Welcome to the Fallen Angel's Deano! I hope we don't end up scaring you too badly."

When Dean managed to unfreeze himself from the trance he had been thrown into he reached out and excitedly shook Gabriel hand. Then he moved to shake Balthazar's too as he extended his and said, "Welcome to the band mate! Thanks for becoming the newest newbie. Now they can't call me that anymore!"

"Oi! Don't thank that gets you off the hook newbie!" Gabriel said, punching Balthazar lightly in the arm before adding, "This boy here was clearly the doctor remember? And in our band doctors can't actually be newbies! Plus you’re still new to this school."

"I'm actually the 10th doctor! David Tennant with all of his sexy hair." Dean chimed in, hoping to God he want overstepping his boundaries.

Castiel immediately turned to Dean and gave him a high five as he said, “Fuck yeah! Tennant all the way!”

Then Gabriel Balthazar again and said, "See! He's number 10 so he can't be new! Wait what happened to the other ten doctors behind you?"

Dean laughed while Cas answered for him by saying, "Gabe it’s a long nerdy story that you probably don't wanna hear so let's just go with the fact that the others died and regenerated.”

"Okaayy then!" Gabriel said with an amused smirk on his face. "Let's just go with that then, but you’re still the newbie Balthazar."

“Well, fuck you all then.” Balthazar said as he flipped them off.

"See I told you he would fit in great!" Cas said beaming.

"Oh clearly!" Balthazar said, carefully eyeing the nonexistent space between their shoulders. "You two already seem to be all buddy, buddy. You needed someone in the band who was more like you!”

At the mention of their close proximity they both immediately moved apart, Cas clearing his throat awkwardly as they went.

Dean couldn’t help but notice the growing smirk on Gabriel’s face and the way his eyes seemed to flash with some unreadable emotion.

"Right, anyways so, will you be able to come to practice with us tonight?" Gabriel asked slowly tossing his now empty sucker stick aside and pulling another one from the depths of his pockets along with a small chocolate bar.

"Yeah...." Dean said airily squinted at Gabriel's pockets in wonderer. They seemed much too small to hold that much candy. "How do you-"

Cas leaned closer to Dean, interrupting him before he even finished his questions by saying, "Their bigger on the inside."

Dean immediately shut his mouth and tried his hardest not to fall into another fit of uncontrollable laughter. Now was so not the moment to be laughing his ass off.

"So uh, right! Tonight!" Dean said, trying hard not to laugh while Cas fell apart beside him.

"Yes! I can come, Cas already invited me, I'm gonna give him a ride there, but I gotta drop my brother off at home first."

"Ah pshh your brother can come too!" Gabriel said casually smiling and flicking his wrist lazily in dismissal.

"I'm not sure he'd wanna come..." Dean said uncertainly. "I mean, yeah he likes rock music, but I don't think he'd wanna get his homework done while listening to us practice."

"Well, at least inquire about it." Gabriel said with a small welcoming smile on his face. Dean was a little bit surprised by the warmth he saw in Balthazar’s eyes. Dean’s first impression of Balthazar was that he was a little cold, sarcastic and stuck up, but that was only half of his personality. He could see that once Balthazar warmed up to a person his whole attitude shifted and he became just a little bit softer.

Suddenly, Gabriel began to stand up both Cas and Dean threw him a look of confusion.

"Where are you going?" Cas asked as he watched his brother.

"Well I imagine that the bells about to ring, if you ever cared to pay attention Castiel." Balthazar said with a smirk, "Unless bells have suddenly ceased to exist in that imaginary world of yours."

Cas simply rolled his eyes as Dean looked down and checked his watch. Sure enough there was less than a minute till the bell was supposed to ring.

Even as he started to look up they all heard the shrill _Twang Twang Twang_ of the bell as it signaled for classes to be dismissed.

“Fuck.” Dean swore in disappointment. It was clear that none of them wanted to leave.

Dean personally wished that they could stay here all day. As he stood up, Dean suddenly realized that he now truly understood the meaning of ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’. Yeah he loved hanging out with Sammy and he always had a lot of fun with his brother, but this felt different.

There was a different type of atmosphere that hung around this small group of people. They were all comfortable with each other and they all seemed like they belong there. It was like they found home and shelter together. This almost felt kinda like a second family to Dean. This was a family where everyone actually got along with one another. Yeah, they teased each other, but they didn’t seem like the people who would purposely set out to harm or put each other down. It was a nice change to have fun and actually act like his age for once. Dean only hoped that it would be like this way more often. He could totally get used to this.

Cas sighed in and looked up at him slowly with a slightly saddened look as he said “It feels like we just got here!”

“I know right!” Dean agreed pursing his lips sadly as Cas groaned and stood up beside him.

“Oh well, we’ll just regroup at lunch or whatever.” Gabriel said as he stood up and clapped Balthazar on the shoulder.

“Sounds like a plan.” Balthazar said as Dean stood up and moved to go retrieve his backpack from where he had discarded it earlier.

When he turned back around he found that both Cas and Gabriel were close behind him while Balthazar was still sitting backwards in the same chair.

Dean looked at him confused and asked, "Aren't you coming with us?"

Balthazar just shook his head slowly and said, "Nope. My next class is band, but good luck out there trying to navigate the halls and all. Try not to get completely trampled by the ass monkeys who dwell outside this room."

"Gee thanks for the fair well and good wishes Balthazar."  Cas said wait a sarcastic smile.

"What? Would you have liked me to send you off with flowers and loving kisses? Isn't part of the reason you keep me around because of my blunt honestly? Or is it just because of my obvious charm and good looks?"

Gabriel snorted and said "What good looks? You're lucky Cassie doesn't make you wear a paper bag over your head on stage."

"Well fuck you too then you candy consuming oaf." Balthazar said in a mocking voice.

"Ah, shut up, I'm just teasing you." Gabriel said with a smirk as he walked towards the door while Dean and Cas both followed.

Dean couldn’t help but smile to himself just a little bit when Cas quickly fell into step beside him. _‘Don’t get too worked up Dean. Just because he’s walking next to you doesn’t mean a damn thing.’_

"Well duhh I thought you were being serious!" Balthazar said, rolling his eyes dramatically.

Gabriel then snorted cheerily and finally walked out the door holding up both of his middle fingers up over his head so Balthazar could see them.

Dean and Cas quickly followed Gabriel out of the classroom as Balthazar shouted after them, “Fuck you too mate!”

Dean simply smile to himself and marveled at the amazing bond that the three boys shared with each other. _‘How the hell did I end up here?’_  Dean couldn’t help asking himself. _‘What did I ever do to end up hanging out with this bad ass group of people?’_

“So Deano, what classes do you lot have next?” Gabriel asked as he slowed his step and fell into place on the other side of Castiel.  

"Uh...” He paused for a moment trying to remember where he was supposed to go next. “I've got Physics with Jody Mills."

"That's cool!" Gabriel with a broad grin. "I heard her classes are great! Cool teacher, pretty hot, but I'm too stupid to take anything she teaches. Although, I would love an excuse to stare at that sweet ass of hers sometime!"

Dean chuckled, not commenting on Gabriel statement since he hadn’t ever paid attention to if Jody was hot or not. Honestly he didn’t ever want to think of her in that way.

“Don’t you think she’s just a little too old for you Gabe?” Cas asked with a slightly skeptical look at his brother.

“Well I didn’t say I wanted to bang her did I?” Gabriel retorted.

“But if you had the chance would you?” Cas shot back.

When Gabriel fell silent Cas began to laugh, “Well there you have it.”

“Shut up!” Gabriel snapped with a disapproving look at his brother, “It doesn’t matter anyways! I’d never end up in one of her classes!”

Dean shrugged slightly and said, “Her classes aren’t too hard."

As the halls filled up around them, Dean carefully watched everyone they passed. He usually tried to avoid this hallway at all cost, especially around third block. There were a lot less teachers down here and a lot more places to get your ass handed to you. Not to mention that Raphael took band this hour. Dean could only hope that the band kids took a little bit longer to get to class than normal. Then maybe he wouldn't have to see Raphael.

 _'Jesus fuck Winchester, you even get picked on by the band geeks!'_ Dean thought bitterly to himself. He hadn’t quite thought about that until just now. _'Can you be any more of a fucking worthless loser than that? What would the others think, if they knew that about you?’_

"Yeah ‘it’s not too bad’ say the nerd!" Gabriel scoffed. "I'm taking environmental science for a reason! Not really an easy ‘A’ but the teacher isn't too hard to sway when flashed a twenty dollar bill every now and then."

Dean rolled his eyes and snorted, he should have guessed that someone like Gabriel would have found a way to work the system to where he could get his grade to hover just on the brink of passing so he could graduate at the end of the year.

"Lemme guess, you're in the AP Physics class right Dean-o?" Gabriel asked, looking over at him for confirmation.

Cas answered for him quickly by saying, "He's in the same AP Physics class that I am." 

"Oh is he now!" Gabriel said with obvious interest now.

"Yep!" Dean said cheerily as the moved through the seas of people.

Dean was glad that most of the people who passed them simply ignore him and moved on without a word. Instead, their eyes were all following Gabriel and Castiel as they walked down the halls.

It was totally understandable. They were super-hot, rising superstars.

Dean was usually one of the people staring at them as he walked past them, though he generally wasn’t quite as direct with the staring as these other people were being. As long as no one paid any attention to him, Dean didn’t care.

Dean couldn’t help but notice how Cas and Gabriel completely ignored the attention. How could they not notice it? It was so painfully obvious. Had they just become immune to it over the years?

As they continued on down the hall, Dean realized how happy he was that he had decided to walk closest to the wall. Now he wouldn't have to feel like he was imposing himself on the other two. If they didn't want to be seen with him they could simply speed up and act like they had never been talking to him.

"What's your grade in that class?" Cas asked curiously. Dean could feel the boy turning his head to look at him as he spoke. Dean couldn't help but feel his cheeks turning a deep shade of red. He was sure that Cas could see it too.

All of a sudden, Cas quickly backtracked, realizing that his question might be intrusive so he said, "Well I mean, I’m not trying to pry. If you don't wanna tell me your grade it's totally-"

Dean looked over at Cas with a concerned look on his face as he quickly said, "Oh! No! I don't mind! I mean, you don't have to be worried about asking me that!"

_'Good job Dean he took the blushing to mean that you're embarrassed about your grades great. Now he probably thinks your grades suck!'_

"Uh… Last time I checked my grade in that class was like a 97." Dean said slowly as he thought about it for a second.

When he finished talking Dean noticed that Cas stayed completely silent. He was too nervous to look at the boy but he knew he was still there because he could still feel Cas walking beside him, (just a little closer than a normal person Dean quickly noted) , but as the halls filled up even more their close proximity wasn't unusual enough to be questioned by anyone.

When Cas still said nothing Dean finally risked looking up at Cas only to find a pair of piercing blue eyes gazing back at him wide with shock.

"What?" Dean asked in a small voice, quickly breaking eye contact and feeling his cheeks heat up once again.

"How the hell do you have a 97 in that class? I mean yeah Jody is a pretty chill ass teacher but still! Her grading standards are a bitch!"

Dean shrugged, trying to scramble for a response for Cas.

"Jesus you must be sleeping with the woman or something!" Cas joked making Dean’s face flush an even deeper shade of red.

"I imagine he'd have to be a pretty good lay to sway Jody! If her grading scale is difficult try and imagine what her bed game standards are like!" Gabriel chimed in.

Dean couldn't help but look up shyly at Gabriel and Cas only to see the shit eating smirk on Gabriel's face and the pondering look on Castiel's.

He was still watching the two of them as Cas suddenly winked at Gabriel and said, "Hey! He might have mad sex skills! You never know!"

Dean's heart felt like it had just exploded. _'Holy fuck!'_ He thought to himself _'Not only is Cas casually discussing the topic of sex like it’s a no big deal, but he’s talking about me having sex with someone AND CAS WAS FUCKING THINKING ABOUT IF I’M GOOD IN BED.'_

Dean was trying his best not to hyperventilate at the thought. He forced himself to think about anything but having sex with Cas in the hopes of avoiding one of those annoying ass surprise boners. He could not afford that happening right now.

However, he was so focused on his breathing that he completely missed what Castiel said next.

Only when Cas repeated what he said did Dean realize that Cas was talking to him. "What? Sorry! I didn't hear what you said, could you repeat that?" Dean asked with an apologetic look on his face.

Cas just chuckled and said, "It’s all good Doctor Sex God! I just was asking if you could possibly give me like some after school help with Physics stuff."

Dean's eyes widened in shock as he stammered he tried his hardest to ignore the sex God comment and instead tried to focus on the real point of Castiel’s question, "Y-you mean like... like… _Tutoring_?"

Cas nodded and smiled slightly as he replied, "Yeah! I mean if you're okay with that and all."

Dean's face absolutely lit up and he felt like he was on the borderlines of a legitimate full blown panic attack! This was too much to absorb all at once. He fought hard to hold back all the fan boyish feels that's were building up inside of him.

_‘Me tutoring Cas? Does this mean alone time with Cas? Holy shit I think it does!’_

“Yeah! That… That- I would be cool with tutoring you!” Dean said as he rushed to find his words again.

“Awesome!” Cas said, beaming back over at Dean. “We can meet at my house if you want or yours if it’s more convenient for you.”

“I don’t care either way!” Dean said cheerily. At this point he didn’t care if they met in a dumpster. As long as he was with Cas everything was all good.

“Great! Maybe we can do tomorrow or something!”

“O-Okay!” Dean stammered. He couldn’t believe that this was happening. “I don’t usually have anything to do on Saturdays.”

“Cool! So we can just chill afterwards then!” Cas exclaimed.

“Absolutely!” Dean felt like he was in heaven. He was going to hang out with Cas one on one tomorrow! This was a dream come true. The only thing that would make this better was if him and Cas actually ended up together.

Carefully, Dean quieted this idea before it developed. He didn’t want to get his hopes up only to fall something that he knew would eventually end up in defeat and disappointment. Besides, they had only officially met less than 24 hours ago, and well… he was pretty sure that Cas was straight.

“Well, I hate to break up our little planning party here, but I’m going this way.” Gabriel suddenly said, as he slowed down and pointed to the art hall right beside them.

“Alright, later Gabe!” Cas said, clapping his hand on his brothers shoulder.

“See ya at lunch Cassie, and I’m glad to have you in the band Deano.” Gabriel said as he turned onto the hallway to their left.

Dean smiled at Gabriel and said, “Bye. See you later on!”

As soon as Gabriel had gone, both Cas and Dean quickly took started walking again before people could yell at them for stopping in the middle of the halls.

Neither boy said anything as they pushed open the doors that lead out of the band hallway and into a bigger hallway.

The silence between them wasn’t natural, but it wasn’t uncomfortable either. It seemed as if they had both run out of things to say while at the same time it didn’t feel like any words needed to be spoken.

After another minute of this silence Dean’s mind started to wander like normal. He hoped that he wasn’t the only one who was okay with the silence between them. Maybe Cas wanted nothing more than to leave Dean standing here by himself. _‘He probably doesn’t want to be seen associating with me…’_ He thought to himself.

Carefully, Dean glanced up at Cas and said, “Uh… hey Cas…”

Cas looked over at Dean with a soft, happy sparkle in his deep blue eyes. “Yeah?”

Dean’s face flushed red as Castiel’s eyes met his. _‘God he’s so perfect.’_

After a second, Dean quickly looked down at the floor in front of him so he wouldn’t get nervous and forget what he was saying. “You know… You don’t have to stick around with me if you don’t want to.” He must have said the words almost too soft for anyone to hear in the crowded hallways, because Cas had learned his head in towards him to hear what he was saying.

Dean glanced up at Cas as he finished talking and saw a look of shock and confusion on Castiel’s face. “Why would I care if someone saw me with you?”

Dean shrugged and fumbled for an answer Cas. They had somehow made eye contact once again, but this time Castiel’s stare was so intense that Dean couldn’t bring himself to look away. It was like the boy was holding him in some sort of trance like state of mind. It kind of made Dean wonder if Cas could look deep into his soul and see everything that was hidden there.

“N-no reason… I was just saying…” Dean finally mumbled his cheeks turning an even darker shade of pink.

Cas pursed his lips into a tight line. It was clear that Cas could tell he wasn’t being told the whole truth. _‘Please don’t push it. Please don’t push it…’_ Dean begged in his mind _‘Please just let the subject drop.’_

Cas finally nodded his head slowly as he looked away from Dean carefully and looked down the hallway in front of him.

Dean let out a sigh of relief, especially when he saw that they weren’t too far from their classroom now. 

As the classroom got closer, Cas finally spoke up again and said, “You don’t have to worry about that Dean. I like hanging out with you.”

Dean’s heart swelled at those words, but he could only half believe them. He had heard those words before and yet that person had still left. That person had still left him behind when he learned more about him and who he really was. Dean shook his head, he wouldn’t think about that person right now. He had better things to think about. _‘Just think about right here, right now Dean. You’re with Cas. Calm down, okay?’_

Dean felt like he needed to answer and sort of clarify his point with Cas without giving away the true meaning of his words so he said, “Well… I mean if you see some of your other friends or something, you don’t have to hang around with me.”

Cas shook his head and said, “That won’t happen, besides, all my friends would probably like you! You’re a pretty chill guy.”

Dean couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at that and mumbled, “Yeah, whatever you say.”

This time, Dean knew that Cas was going to try and press him more on what he had just said. However, used an evasion method and quickly ducked into the classroom and rushed away from Cas so he could get over to his normal seat at the front of the classroom.

There were only a few kids already in class, but this was pretty normal. Dean was almost always one of the first to arrive since he was such an over achiever and well… there was no one that he really wanted to talk to in between classes, so he would just go straight to class. It was a great method for avoiding bullies too. They knew better than to try something in front of the teachers. Most of the other students in this class took their time and didn’t get to class until the late bell was about to ring.

Quickly, trying his hardest not to look at Cas, Dean set down his backpack and started pulling out his books. He could feel Cas slowly start to move so Dean figured that he was heading to his own seat, which was basically in the very back of the room. 

They didn’t necessarily have assigned seats in this class, but the seating arrangements were pretty much all settled out. Well, except for the seat right beside Dean. People always fought on who would have to be the one to sit next to him.  No one wanted that spot.

Since this was a science class, every table seated two people per desk, and they had just enough kids in the class to fill every seat. This meant that there was always someone sitting next to Dean, unless for some reason someone didn’t come to class that day. It wasn’t a secret to anyone that no one ever wanted to sit with Dean. People didn’t care how smart he was, they still didn’t want to sit with him. Over the years Dean had just associated that with something normal. Everyone just knew that there was just a mutual agreement that the last person in the room was simply stuck sitting next to him.

Dean pursed his lips sadly, as he realized what he had just done. _‘You fucking dumbass, you just walked away from Castiel fucking Novak...’_ He thought to himself. _‘He probably hates you now you know.’_

As Dean fought against his thoughts he looked up at the teacher’s desk for a brief second and saw Jody flash him one of her small smiles. Dean could easily say that she was one of his favorite teachers, well aside from his Auto Tech teacher Bobby Singer. She was really nice to him and always tried to comfort him, even though he always tried to act like everything was okay. She knew it was a lie so she would tell Dean on multiple occasions that she was there for him if he ever needed her.

Dean tried his best to smile back at her, but he knew it probably looked completely fake and unbelievable. Jody’s, eyebrows seemed to scrunch up in confusion probably realizing that his smile was fake. He hoped that she wouldn’t come and try to talk with him after class today. He just wasn’t feeling it. Dean just wanted it to be Saturday already.

Suddenly, Dean’s attention was torn from Jody as someone pulled out the chair right beside him. Dean’s mind scrambled for a moment, knowing that the class was nowhere near full yet.

“Think you could get rid of me that easily doctor?” Asked a smug gravelly voice.

Dean turned his head and saw that Cas was setting down his backpack and running is fingers through his black and blue tipped hair.

“But- why… what are you doing?” Dean asked in confusion as he looked towards the back of the classroom to where Cas normal sat.

The spot next to Castiel was always fought over in the class. You could always find girls fighting over any chair that was in Castiel’s general area. Hell, Dean had even seen one girl pay someone twenty bucks in order to sit next to Cas for one class. It was pretty ridiculous actually.

“I’m sitting.” Cas said bluntly. “What do you think I was doing?” There was a little smirk of amusement playing on Castiel’s lips as he finally sat down in the chair.

As he sat, Dean got a strong whiff of that amazing cologne that Cas always wore. He inhaled deeply, trying to treasure the scent before asking, “Yeah, but… why are you sitting _here_?”

“I dunno… Cause I wanted to sit here. I thought I was the doctor’s companion. You can’t get rid of me that easily.” Cas said with a shrug as he leaned back in his chair, balancing it against the table behind him and putting his feet up onto the table. “Is there a rule about sitting next to you or something?”

“Companion?…” Dean stuttered with wide eyes as Castiel smirked at them.

“Get your feet off the table boy!” Suddenly came Jody’s harsh demanding words as she broke into their little world. “You know better than that!”

Cas snorted with laughter and gave Dean a guilty look as he took his legs off the desk and put all four legs back on the ground. “My bad Mrs. Mills.” Cas called back to her before quickly turning his attention back to Dean.

“Yeah, companion, as in the doctors partner! They don’t always have to be chick companions you know.” Cas told him with a wink. “Anyways, l like I was saying, is there some reason why I can’t sit here?” Cas looked at Dean with a new intensity in his eyes.

Slowly, Dean shook his head and struggled to clear his thought as he said, “Well no… uh… there aren’t any rules against it, but-”

“Then we’re perfectly good then.” Cas said, interrupting him.

“But it’s just that if you hadn’t noticed, I’m not exactly the most popular guy to sit with.” Dean said, trying to explain.

“Nah, they’re just jealous of your obvious charm and are much too intimidated to come sit beside you.” Cas said, grinning broadly at Dean as he blushed once again.

“I don’t exactly think that’s what it is, but thanks for trying.” Dean said with a small smile at Castiel. “You honestly don’t have to sit next to me it you don’t want to.”

Cas rolls his eyes and give Dean a serious look as he asks, “Why do you keep thinking that I wouldn’t want to be around you?”

Dean shrugs and looks away.

“No, I’m serious! Stop avoiding this _‘I’m not important’_ topic.” Cas say, speaking up just a little louder, but not loud enough to draw attention to themselves.

When Dean still refused to say anything Cas asks in a softer voice, “Can’t you please tell me Dean?”

Dean couldn’t help but feel a strange tingling in his throat at the way Cas say his name. It was soft, light and caring, but demanding at the same time. Dean knew he would never get sick of hearing his name roll off of Castiel’s tongue. Somehow, Cas made his name sound like the name of an angel. It was like he genuinely cared, and that was something Dean didn’t hear often in peoples voices.

Slowly, Dean looked over at Cas, not meeting his eyes as he said, “I just don’t want you to be hanging out with me because you feel like you have to okay?”

Dean then busied himself by opening his notebook and picking up his pencil to draw little doodles along the side of a page.

“Listen, I promise you that I want to hang out with you! Hell, we actually have a lot in common! You need to really believe that I want to get to know you better.”

Dean nodded his head slowly, still drawing on his paper, still not exactly believing what Cas was telling him. People can lie. It was simple as that. Dean was scared that this was just all one giant cruel joke.

He risked a glance in Castiel’s direction and saw that strange intense look in his eyes again. It seemed as if he wanted to say more, but just at that moment the late bell rang and broke the moment that was taking place between then.

Dean looked around in surprise; he hadn’t even realized that the room had quickly been filing up around them as people took their seats.

Immediately, Dean could feel the eyes of almost the entire class watching him. He knew that they were all wondering why Cas was sitting with him. This wasn’t something that wasn’t supposed to happen in a million years. Dean had never believed there would be a day where he got to sit next to Cas. Things like this just didn’t happen to him.

As the bell quickly quieted, Jody Mills got up and shut the classroom door just after the last person, Ruby, entered the classroom.

Ruby gave both Dean and Cas a strange look as walked past them to get to the last available seat in the room.

As she passed the desk she suddenly stopped and turned to look at Cas as she said, “Castiel, would you like to sit with me today so you don’t have to sit next to _that_?” She shot Dean a look that clearly said that she thought he was the scum of the earth. Then, the bitch looked back at Cas with wink as she twirled her hair in what she clearly hoped would seduce him to move.

At Ruby’s harsh look, Dean felt his face heat up in shame. She was one of the many people in the school who helped beat him up. Well, she got her goon squad to kick his ass for her so it was basically the same thing. So, what that ultimately meant for Dean was that he always did whatever he could to stay on her good side, not that any side of her was really _good._

Dean was sure that Cas was about to have some awakening moment and realize that sitting with him wasn’t cool and get up to move. However, Cas surprised him by saying, “Actually Ruby, I think I’m fine where I’m at. And if I ever fucking hear you refer to Dean _‘that’_ again, I will personally see to it that you will _never_ be at another Fallen Angel’s concert again. _Bitch._ ”  There was an obvious threat in Castiel’s voice that made even Dean shiver with fear.

There were gasps of shock and confusion from everyone in the room. No one knew what the hell had gotten into Cas, this wasn’t like him. He was never flat out mean to the other students. Dean’s eyes were focused hard on the paper in front of him. He once again wanted to sink into the floor and disappear. _‘Go away.’_ Dean silently begged of Ruby. _‘Just go away already.’_

 “But- what did I…” Ruby stuttered, her air of mighty confidence had been stripped from her in an instant and left her fumbling for words.

Ruby seemed to be stuck to the floor as Cas glared at her and asked, “Are you still here? I believe class is starting.”

As those words hung in the air, Ruby made irritated huffing sound and finally stomped off to take the last seat next to one of her goons Azazel.

Dean could feel Cas watching him as he now focus even harder on his paper. Dean knew he was going to pay for this little fiasco later on but Dean still couldn’t help but feel grateful for Castiel’s presence. Under the cover of the hushed whispers in the room Dean tilted his head slightly towards Castiel and whispered, “Thank you.” To Cas.

No one ever stood up for him like that. _Ever._

“Anytime.” Cas answered back as Dean felt the boy nudge him in the leg gently with his knee.

When Ruby took her seat, Jody stood up and looked at the class with a stern look of silent fury and disapproval. Immediately everyone fell silent.

You could literally hear the contained anger in her voice as she said, “I am going to say this _one time_ , and _one time only_. I will _not_ be seeing another display like that again. _Ever._ ” Jody glared at Ruby, making the girl shift uncomfortably. “So, get a good look at where you are now, because as of today I am making these your permanent seats to prevent any further disputes.”

Immediately the silence in the room was broken by immediate shouts and complaints from the other students as they protested Jody’s binding words. It was very rare that she ever went back on her word and they all knew it.

“You can’t do this!” One girl shouted.

“That’s not fair!” Came another voice from someone in the back of the room.

“Complain all you want, this is how it’s gonna have to be from now on. If you’ve got a problem with it, I’ve got plenty of referrals up and here and well… there’s the door.” Jody said as she crossed her arms stubbornly.

“This is bullshit!” One guy shouted.

“Yeah? Well so is the way you guys hurt each other and fight over seating arrangements.” Jody snapped back. “So, if you’re gonna act like five year olds, I might as well treat you as such. You have officially activated the mommy mode teacher.”

There was dead silence in the room. No one knew what to say back to Jody. Dean could feel the hate rolling through the room directed at both Dean and Jody now.

As the teacher sat back down at her desk she added, “If anyone has any _legitimate_ seating arrangement problems, we can talk _after_ class.”

They all watched silently as Jody slowly turned on their classroom projector and opened up a PowerPoint for the day’s lesson. Suddenly, she looked up from her screen and gave them all a hard serious stare as she said, “And if your argument for a new seat is ‘I’m not sitting next to my friend’ you best keep it too yourself if you have your best interests at heart.”

Dean had to remind himself to breath once Jody began to teach. His heart seemed to be racing at a million miles an hour while his insides seemed to churn with a mixture of joy and fear. He was beyond happy that he was now sitting with Cas permanently, but at the same time he knew his ass was going to be beat by all the pissed off kids sitting around him. This new arrangement was both a blessing and a curse.

How could Jody have known what the possible outcomes of this would be? No one knew that Dean always got beat up. It was just a regular thing that happened to him, he couldn’t stop it, and he would become a nark if he told anyone. That’s why it was best to just keep his mouth shut.  Besides, this was his last year of high school, after this was college and people who had no idea who he was.

After this year, he had the whole world ahead of him.  The start of a whole new life. Dean knew he could tolerate the beatings just a little bit longer, especially if it meant that Cas was his new lab partner and desk mate.

 _‘This is worth it.’_ Dean thought to himself, trying his hardest not to feel the glares all around him. _‘This is TOTALLY worth it._

“Guess I made a pretty great seating choice today didn’t I?” Cas whispered under his breath.

Dean glanced towards the boy saw the little curve at the corner of his mouth that told him that Cas was wearing one of those adorable little smug smiles of his. There wasn’t even a hint of sarcasm in that face. Cas was being one hundred percent serious and Dean couldn’t be happier.

He smiled at Cas but forced himself to stay silent as he quickly jotted down notes from the PowerPoint.

After about five minutes of silence between them Cas suddenly pushed a little square of paper across the desk.

Carefully, Dean glanced at the note. His mind was showing him those unpleasant flashbacks to the earlier notes he had been passed.

 _‘Do I dare to read it?’_  Dean asked himself carefully. Even as the words formed in his head, Dean’s body had already made the decision for him. He watched himself slowly reach out and pull that little note close to himself so he could read Castiel’s beautiful scrawled spidery writing.

He had to hold back his laughter as he read:

_‘What language is Jody talking in? I don’t understand any of this lesson.’_

Dean slowly moved his pencil and wrote underneath Castiel’s words: _‘Have you even been paying any attention to the lesson?’_

He pushed the paper carefully back over to Cas so he could read his response.

Seconds later the paper was pushed back over to him with six simple words on it.

_‘Not really. Should I have been?’_

Dean rolled his eyes gave Cas a sidelong look. He quickly found Castiel’s blue sparkling eyes looking back at him with arched eyebrows.

Dean gave the boy his best _are you kidding me_ look before nodding his head towards the board indicating that he should really start paying attention.

Cas chuckled silently and took back the small piece of paper.

This time, Castiel actually started trying to take notes for the lesson, so this let Dean get back to his own note taking.

However, Castiel soon gave Dean’s arm a little nudge to break his concentration as another slip of paper was slowly slide across the desk.

This time the note read: _‘What’s your favorite TV show?’_

Dean quickly scribbled back, ‘ _Cas, focus.’_

 _‘I’ve never heard of that show before. Is it good?’_  

Dean shook his head slowly at Castiel’s sarcasm and wrote back, _‘Smart ass’_

Beside him, Cas snorted and Dean could feel it when the boy looked over at him with another one of those smirks on his face.

_‘That’s kinda a new one. Smart isn’t always quite the word pared with me. It’s more of dumb ass actually.’_

_‘Well maybe you’re both then.’_

_‘Probably.’_

Dean couldn’t help but smile to himself and roll his eyes as he finally pushed the paper aside and started taking notes again.

However, Cas was a very persistent person, so the note traveled back over to Dean’s side of the table pretty quickly with a new message on it. _‘My favorite show is a tie between Doctor Who and Sherlock. Just in case you wanted to know.’_

Dean smirked and pushed his note book to the side as he realized that Cas wasn’t going to stop passing him notes so he might as well just play along with it.

_‘Mine is Doctor Who too, but I’ve never watched Sherlock.’_

Castiel’s response was almost instantaneous when he read Dean’s reply. Dean looked up at him and met the horrified expression on Castiel’s face. He simply shrugged at Cas as if to say, _Sorry. So sorry._

_‘That’s not even possible! Those two go hand in hand, like Rose Tyler and the Doctor or peanut butter and jelly! That’s it. You are going to have to crash at my house one day at watch it with me. It’s going to happen.’_

Dean had to bite his tongue so he wouldn’t start laughing. Castiel gave him a look of complete seriousness as he reached over and added,

_‘I’m dead serious. You have to watch it. After tutoring tomorrow. Hell maybe even instead of that! We can met at my house and watch it.’_

Dean licked his lips with nerves and anticipation as he wrote back, _‘That sounds fun!’_

Dean’s mind was racing at what felt like a million miles an hour. Cas basically just set them up to have a movie date. Well, minus the date part. But still it was going to be a day where they could hang out all day, watching Sherlock while getting to know each other better.

Cas smiled at Dean excitedly as he took back the piece of paper and stuck it in his pocket.

After that, both of them went back to taking notes for real this time so they wouldn’t get too behind when it came time to do the work that Jody would give them later on.

Surprisingly, the rest of the class went along very smoothly as the two of them finished copying the notes and worked on the assignment together. By the end of the class, Dean had shown Cas how to work the days problems and made him understand the parts of the lessons that he hadn’t gotten.

By the end of the class they were the only group to finish the assigned classwork and at least half of the homework that that were assigned over the weekend. They even had five minutes left to spare!

“Dude, I see why you have a 97 in this class!” Cas exclaimed in a happy whisper as they packed up their bags. “You’re a fucking natural at this stuff!”

Dean shrugged and said, “I’ve just got a good memory is all.”

“Well thank God for it!” Cas said with a laugh, “Maybe with you tutoring me I can actually pass this class with a B minus.

Dean smiled at Cas as they both stood up and hoisted their backpacks onto their shoulders.

“What class do you have next?” Dean asked as he glanced at the clock that sat over the teachers desk.

“English…” Cas grumbled, as he made a puke face.

“Ew… that sucks…” Dean said as he wrinkled his nose in disgust.

“Yeah… it’s not the worst thing ever, but you know, still not great.” Cas said as he they began to walk closer to the door.

“Where are you going next?” Cas asked as he leaned up against the wall by the door.

“Auto tech.” Dean said with a fond smile. It was one of his favorite classes. He had taken all four levels that the school offered and his teacher; Bobby Singer loved having him in class.

Most of the time Dean just got an ‘A’ for showing up, not that it had always been that way, but Bobby, knew that Dean got his work done.

Usually, Dean would just drive baby into the garage and fine tune her or see what kind of sweet upgrades and modifications he could give her. Like Balthazar had mentioned earlier, it was hard to find Dean in there without his head buried in the car.

“Who would have guessed…” Cas murmured with a soft smile. “A nerd with a mechanically inclined side.”

Dean shrugged, “Eh, look at Balthazar. Would you have ever guessed that?”

“No… not really.” Cas agreed with a smirk

As the two of them laughed and joked; waiting patiently for the bell to ring Jody suddenly broke into their conversation and said, “Mr. Novak. May I speak to you for a moment?”

Dean and Cas gave each other identical looks of confusion as the dismissal bell decided it was the right time to ring.

Cas turned around to face Jody, walking over to her as he slowly said, “Uh… Yeah, sure.”

Dean watched as Cas glanced back at Dean momentarily.

On a sudden whim Dean asked, “You want me to wait for you?”

Castiel’s eyes softened as he said, “Na, it’s alright. I don’t want ya to be late for class. I know Auto Tech is kinda far from here.”

Dean nodded and gave Cas a small smile before turning to walk out the door after the rest of the students who were filing into the hallways.

“See ya at lunch geek.” Cas called after him with a little smile.

Dean waved and called back, “See ya!”

Then Dean rushed off to class. As he walked he realized that he had a smile on his face and new life in his step. He hoped that this meant his day was only going up.

~~~

“What’s gotten into you today boy?” Bobby asked, walking over to Dean as he dropped his wrench for at least the tenth time that day.  Dean hands had been shaking uncontrollably as energy and excitement flooded thought his veins.

“Nothing. It’s nothing!” Dean said quickly as he picked up the wrench and used the back of his hand to wipe a bead of sweat from his forehead.

“Don’t lie to me son.” Bobby scoffed. “Do you think I’m a natural born Idjit? I can see that somethings up.”

Dean sighed, a small smile pulling at his lips as he said, “I just can’t wait for the weekend is all.”

“Is it a girl?” Bobby asked with a knowing smirk.

“No!” Dean exclaimed as his eyes widened in shock.

“A guy?” Bobby pressed as he arched his eyebrows in curiosity.

“What?” Dean gasped before spluttering, “No! Come on Bobby, stop it! I just wanna keep working on my baby!”

“Well, excuse me for trying to help you out.” Bobby said rolling his eyes as Dean turned back to his baby and reached up to shut the hood. He needed to check under the car now since he had finished under the hood.

“By the way, I’m pretty you won’t be getting very far without the fan belt.” Bobby grumbled as watched Dean.

“What the-” Dean lifted the hood of the Impala back up and saw that the belt was nowhere to be seen. “Fuck…” He swore as he realized his mistake. He could have sworn he had put all the parts back on.

Quickly he looked around in search of the missing part. Finally, he spotted the belt on a nearby chair. He must have set it over there earlier, yet he barely remembered taking it off in the first place.

“Yeah, fine my ass. I just hope whoever this little crush of yours is worth your time.” Bobby muttered as he walked over and retrieved the belt for Dean.

Dean carefully avoided Bobby’s eyes as a small blush filling up his cheeks.

“You need to pay more attention ya damn idjit.” Bobby told him with another roll of his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. I know…” Dean mumbled as he leaned against his car and started to put the belt back.

“Still not gonna talk about it?” Bobby asked with growing persistence.

Slowly, Dean stood up straight and looked at the old teacher, giving him a serious look.

Dean rolled his eyes and set his jaw in irritation. “You sure are a persistent bastard…” Dean complained.

Bobby didn’t move and Dean soon realized that the teacher wasn’t going anywhere until he gave him something. He sighed and said, “Okay, look you know that band The Fallen Angels?”

“You mean that one band that started up here a few years ago?” Bobby asked curiously as he airily scratched at his scraggily beard.

“That would be the one.” Dean said with a small smile before whispering, “Well, they invited me to join their band.”

“Have you ever even touched a musical instrument?” Bobby teased him with a smirk.

“Shut up! I actually own a guitar.”

“But the question is can you play it?”

Dean quickly busied himself with finishing the final adjustments on the car as he said, “Well no, but Cas said he’d teach me how to play. They wanted me as vocalist anyways.”

“Well, congratulations boy.” Bobby said with a laugh as he shook his head and clapped Dean on the back. “I think this is gonna be a good thing for ya son.”

“Thanks Bobby.” Dean said as he closed the hood of his car and turned around.

Bobby smiled at Dean and said, “Well, now that I’m done being Doctor Phil; get yourself back to work boy.”

“Yes, sir.” Dean said with a laugh as Bobby walked away to go rag on some of the other students who had decided to slack off. Specifically Balthazar, who seemed to have produced a few cans of soda from the depths of his backpacks and was busy passing them out to the people working around him.

When the bell rang signaling the end of class Dean couldn’t have been more relieved. Never in his life had he wanted his Auto Tech class to be over so badly, but today was different. He was eating lunch with Cas!

Dean quickly grabbed his backpack and rushed from the garage, calling out a quick goodbye to Bobby as he raced across the grass and back inside the main school building.

As soon as he got inside he quickly slowed his speed down to a simple walk for fear of getting yelled at by the teachers or members of the school administration.

However, Dean didn’t make it very far before someone ran into him from behind and wrapped their arms around him, trapping his arms by his sides. Before Dean could even react he was being dragged into the boy’s bathroom, a sticky sweaty hand placed over his mouth to keep him from shouting out.

Once the inside the bathroom he was slammed into the wall, while his backpack was ripped away and thrown carelessly off to the side.

“Fucking Winchester.” Growled the angry voice of Lisa’s boyfriend… Michael. “I’ve heard all kinds of interesting stories about you today. You’re really drawing some attention to yourself aren’t you Winchester.”

“Michael come on man please don’t do this!” Dean pleaded. His hopes of avoiding getting his ass kicked today had been crushed in an instant.

 _‘This is what you get for not paying attention Dean.’_ He told himself.

“Oh look, he’s trying to get out of this.” Michael cooed in a taunting voice as he looked around him. Only now did Dean notice that Michael wasn’t alone. “Nice try, but I’ve been itching to kick someone’s ass, and you’re my favorite punching bag.”

 _‘Of course he’s not gonna leave me alone…’_ Dean thought sourly.

Behind Michael were the cold dark faces of Michael’s brother Lucifer, and their longtime friend, Zachariah. All three of them could kick Dean’s ass single handedly. With all three of them here… well the scratches and bruises weren’t gonna be all that easy to hide.

“Come on. I have somewhere to be!” Dean snapped with coldness in his voice. He didn’t usually fight back against his tormenters, but today he just wished they would give him a break.

“Not a chance Winchester.” Michael sneered, “My fist and your face currently have a date.”

Dean closed his eyes and braced himself for impact as Michael pulled back his arm.

Pain erupted on the side of Dean’s face as the boy’s fist connected with his own, making him gasp and cry out.

Seconds later the same fist connected with him again, this time hitting him in the stomach and making him double over and clutch his stomach.

“This will make you think about who you chose to talk to and what you say next time.” Michael growled in Dean’s ear as he brought his knee up and connected it with Dean’s face.

Stars flashed before his eyes and he felt blood suddenly start to pour from his noise.

Michael must be really pissed, because he usually tried to avoid the face. He didn’t want people to have a reason to question what happened to him, so he left the marks where no one could clearly see them. Today, it was clear that Michael didn’t care.

As Dean clutched at his face he was suddenly thrown to the bathroom floor and kicked hard in the back.

Dean shouted in pain again, hoping that they would be done soon so he could clean himself up and get on with his day.

Unfortunately, at this point both Lucifer and Zachariah though that this was a perfect moment to join in.

All Dean could do was lay there on the cold, hard, disgusting bathroom floor while he was ravaged from three sides.  If they even thought he was attempting to fight back they would have made it a thousand times worse, so it was better just to do nothing.

“Awe, Winchester looks tired.” Zachariah sneered as they finally backed off and stopped hitting him.

Dean was hugging himself, blood still pooling from his nose as he panted and tried his hardest to catch his breath.

 _‘Maybe, just maybe they’re done now.’_ Dean thought to himself. _‘Please for the love of God please just let them be done.’_

“I think maybe he might need a little cooling down, what do you think?” Lucifer said with a truly evil laugh.

“I think your right my brother.” Michael said as he bent down and grabbed Dean by the back of his shirt.

He was hoisted to his feet and quickly shoved into one of the bathroom stalls.

“Jesus! Fuck! You asshole!” Dean roared as he legitimately tried to fight back now. The last thing he wanted was to get a mouthful of the schools toilet water. Fighting back was a big mistake, as the rammed his head into the stall door to daze him.

“Awww is nerdy widdle Winchester afraid of a widdle water?” Zachariah cooed in a truly insulting tone of voice.

“I think he’s talking entirely too much.” Michael said as he pulled one of his hands off of Dean’s shirt and tangled it into his hair.

Lucifer than moved in and punched Dean in the face again, making his nose bleed even heavier than it had been before.

More stars flashed in front of Dean’s face and he barely recovered in time to take a deep breath before his face was force into the toilet water.

Cold nasty water surrounded his face and filled his nose with the foul water. A sickening taste quickly filled his throat and he began to get light headed.

He squirmed and fought desperately to get free and he was sure that this time they would actually end up killing him. This time would finally be the day they finally went too far. Black spots started to appear in Dean’s vision when he was forced to let out his breath of air resulting in water filling his mouth, as he began to choke.

Suddenly, Michael was just gone. He wasn’t being forced under the water anymore and he came up spluttering for air.

Behind him, he heard strange grunts and shouts of pain but he was too tired and light headed to even bring himself to turn around.

He could hear someone behind him talking in a dangerous tone, but it sounded like everything was being filtered through a veil and he couldn’t make out the words being said.

All around him, everything was blurred and unfocused as it seemed to fade in and out of existence.

He jumped violently and struggled a little bit when someone was suddenly standing behind him and tried pulling him close.  

“Hey, whoa Dean calm down it’s just me.” A voice whispered in his ear and he was held tighter to prevent him from moving and hurting himself even more. “It’s Cas.”

“C-Cas…” Dean murmured through a daze as he tried to place the name and the voice with a face.

He looked up into those brilliant blue eyes, filled with concern and suddenly everything came rushing back to him. This was Cas, _like his crush Cas, Fallen Angel’s founder Cas._

 _‘Shit shit shit shit.’_ Dean thought in horror. _‘He can’t see me like this!’_

Hurriedly, Dean tried to squirm away from Cas again.

“Dean! Stop it! You’re going to hurt yourself even more!” Cas complained as his tightened his grip around Dean once again.

After about three more minutes of this Dean finally calmed down and gave up the fight. It was clear that he couldn’t get away from Cas. The kid defiantly had some hidden strength, not to mention that any strength Dean had, was currently drained from exhaustion.

“Are you done?” Cas asked, trying to look Dean in the eye.

Dean slowly nodded as he flat out refused to look at Cas, keeping his eyes down and locked with a crack in the floor.

“Stay right here. I’m gonna get some paper towels to try and clean you up okay?” Cas told Dean. It was clear to Dean that Castiel’s words weren’t a request, it was a demand.

Only moments later Cas was back, having wet the paper towels with water from the bathrooms sinks.

“Why were they doing this to you?” Cas asked slowly as he gently cupped Dean’s face in his hand and used the paper towel to gingerly wiped blood from Dean’s injuries.

Dean shrugged and still refused to look Cas in the eye, wincing in pain as he passed over what was probably a cut.

“Sorry.” Cas apologized, “They got ya pretty good.”

“It’s okay.” Dean murmured.

“No, it’s not okay Dean.” Cas said with clear anger in his voice. “You shouldn’t- they… they’re lucky that I stopped when I did.”

Dean didn’t miss the dark sound of anger in Castiel’s voice. He instantly felt that feeling of fear and intimidation rolling off of Cas once again.

“How did you get them to leave?” Dean asked, not really remembering what happened.

“I gave them a lesson they’re not going to forget.” Cas said darkly.

There was silence between them as Cas set down the first paper towel and picked up a second one.

“There were three of them though…” Dean mumbled in confusion.

“And?” Cas said with a small tired smirk on his lips.

Dean fell silent. There was no way that Cas had taken on all three of them was there? It must have been true since there was no one but them in the bathroom now.

When Cas set down the paper towel he had been using, Dean saw a scary amount of blood coating it, but he didn’t really care right now.

“I should be taking you to the school nurse, but I’m pretty sure you’d try to fight against me on that.” Cas said with a unhappy pursing of his lips.

Dean let the corner of his mouth twitch upwards in amusement, wincing only a little when he found out that his lip was split. “Well, you’re not wrong with that theory.”

“You stubborn son of a bitch.” Cas said with a bitter laugh. The mood seemed to darken again as Cas asked, “Have they done this to you before.”

Dean was silent.

“If you don’t answer me I’m going to take that as a yes.” Cas warned him.

Dean sighed and mumbled, “I’m used to it by now.”

“How long has this been going on?”

Dean shook his head slowly and opened his mouth a little before saying, “As long as I can remember.”

Cas stopped moving completely. Gently he took Dean by the shoulders and forced him to look at him.

Dean finally looked up into Castiel’s face, expecting to see pity and disgust in his eye. However, Dean instead saw sorrow, and a thousand unspoken apologies reflected back at him.

“I’m so sorry Dean.” Cas whispered.

“S’not your fault.” Dean said back in a hushed voice.

“No, but from today on, I swear to you this won’t ever happen again. As the doctor’s companion it is my duty to help make sure that you’re okay.”

Dean’s eyes dropped and he looked away from Cas. He didn’t believe it; he couldn’t bring himself to believe it. He didn’t want to be disappointed and left behind like every other time that he had tried to make friends with someone.

“Dean you have to believe me.” Cas said, cupping Dean’s chin and lifting his head back up. “I swear that I will protect you. I’m going to make sure that you’re never hurt like this again, okay?”

Dean didn’t say anything.

“Okay?” Cas asked again with renewed force in voice.

Slowly, Dean nodded to show that he acknowledged Castiel’s promise.

Seconds later he was being pulled into one of the gentlest hugs he had ever received in his life and it was utterly amazing.

Castiel’s ripped jean jacket felt rough and scratchy against his sore face but his boy was solid and warm.  Dean could literally feel the promise Cas had made radiating from his body.

So lost in the moment Dean almost forgot to breathe as he inhaled the scent of Castiel cologne.

When their hug finally broke apart Castiel looked at Dean and asked, “Do you think you can stand?”

Dean nodded slowly and he stood up on shaky legs. He had to lean on Castiel for support as he suddenly saw dark spots in his vision and nearly fell over once again.

Outside of the bathroom the bell rang signaling that lunch was now over and they had to be heading back to class.

“I-I’m sorry I wasted your lunch Cas.” Dean said apologetically.

“Don’t be sorry.” Cas assured Dean as they slowly walked over to where Dean’s backpack had been discarded.

Cas quickly threw away the bloody paper towels and leaned Dean against the wall so he could reach down and pick up both their backpacks.

“Put your arm across my shoulders.” Cas ordered Dean as he moved back over to his side.

“I’m alright Cas.” Dean tried to argue. “We need to be getting off to class before-”

“Nu uh! No you don’t. I’m taking you home Dean.” Cas insisted as Dean finally threw his arm across Castiel’s shoulder.

“But-”

“Nope. I’m not gonna hear it. If you’re not gonna let me take you to the nurse I am gonna take you home.” Cas said stubbornly.

“But Sam…” Dean said in horror, thinking about how Sam would get home if he left early.

“I’ll have Gabriel drive him. I’ve met your brother before. Him and Gabe should get along great.” Cas said as he pushed open the bathroom door and walked out into the nearly empty hallway.

 _‘We must have been in there longer than I thought.’_  Dean realized as they walked down the almost empty hallways.

“What am I gonna tell the teachers?” Dean fretted, thinking about his nearly perfect attendance.

“I’ll take care of that too.” Cas insisted. “Like I said, I’m gonna look after you okay?”

Dean just nodded slowly as he started to feel light headed again. He was begging to think he had the onsets of a mild concussion but he refused to tell Cas this. Dean didn’t want him worrying anymore that he already was.

The time seemed to pass in a strange mess of colors and sound as Cas lead Dean out of the school and into the parking lot. He had to explain where he had left his car as he slowly passed his keys over to Cas. Cas then disappeared momentarily as he slipped inside and pulled Dean’s car out of the auto tech garage. Some small part of Dean’s brain wondered how the hell he had gotten the Impala out of the garage without Bobby making some sort of huge hissy fit over it. Then again, maybe Bobby hadn’t returned to his classroom yet. He and Jody Mills often chatted together during lunch and free blocks.

Once Cas had pulled the Impala around, Cas got out and quickly helped Dean get into the passenger seat.

The next span of time just flew by strangely, leaving Dean in a haze. He wasn’t even sure where they were or how he had gotten there.

When Dean finally could focus on reality again he found himself in his own room. He quickly noted that it was almost dark outside and there was a cool wash cloth resting on his head. When he looked beside him Dean almost jumped out of his skin, because there was someone sitting right beside him.

“Son of a bitch!” Dean gasped in shock as he tried to scramble away from the person, only to go still moments later, his body wracked with pain.

“Dean, hey calm down.” Came Castiel’s calm soothing voice through the darkened room.

“Where- why are you in my room?” Dean asked, wincing in pain and trying to shake off the confusion to figure out what the hell was going on.

“You were jumped by Michael, Zachariah, and Lucifer in the bathroom, and I ended up taking you home and watching after you.” Cas explained.

All at once everything came flooding back into Dean’s mind and he felt his cheeks heat up in shame.

“Oh my God…” Dean gasped. “I am so sorry Cas. You probably hate me now.”

Castiel scooted closer to Dean and asked, “Why would I hate you Dean? I want to take care of you.”

“You probably don’t want to have to deal with this or any of the shit that comes with it.” Dean sighed, “Knowing me is more of a burden than a blessing.

“I don’t think it is. I don’t mind watching over you.” Cas insisted, his piercings glinting softly in the dull lighting in the room.

“H-how long have I been out?” Dean asked, trying to change the subject.

“A few hours. It’s almost 8 o-clock now. I was worried that I’d have to take you to the hospital there for a few hours. You were pretty out of it.”

“Where’s Sam?” Dean asked hurriedly, realizing that he hadn’t brought his brother home.

“He’s watching the band rehearsal with Balthazar and Gabriel, though I’m assuming that their just chatting and eating since I’m not there.” Cas said with a soft laugh.

“The rehearsal! Oh my God Cas! I’m so sorry!” Dean began to blubber, worrying that he was already damaging the band and sending it downhill.

“Hey, don’t worry about it! We practice all the time. Right now I’m just making sure you’re okay.” Cas told him. “I didn’t tell the others what happened, I just said that you weren’t feeling well and needed to go home early.”

Dean looked at Cas gratefully and whispered, “Thanks Cas. You’re the best.”

Cas chuckled and said, “Well, I’m glad you think so.”

After a moment Dean said, “You know you don’t have to stay here if you don’t-”

“Don’t even say it Dean!” Cas said with a smirk. “I am going to be here at least until Sam comes back, maybe longer if he lets me.”

Dean looked at Cas with wide eyes. “You would stay longer than that?”

“Of course!” Cas exclaimed. “I’d stay the night if you wanted me to!”

Dean’s heart seemed to die in his chest. The reality of this whole situation was finally crashing down around him. Here he was here _alone, in bed,_ with his long time crush, and new best friend, who had now sworn to protect him. Now Cas was literally asking to sleep over. If Cas slept over that would mean he would either have to sleep on the sofa, the floor, _or in Dean’s bed._

“I- I mean… yeah! That would be great! I can sleep on the floor or the sofa-”

Cas interrupted him and said, “Nopee! You stay right here in this bed.”

“Well, then you better be in the bed too, cause you aren’t gonna sleep on the floor.” Dean insisted.

“That’s fine by me.” Cas said coolly, a little half smile on his lips.

Dean was sure that if he died right now he could leave this world a happy man. Cas just said that he would sleep in the same bed as him. Dean’s heart felt like it was gonna explode.

Before Dean knew it, Cas had texted Gabriel saying that he was gonna stay the night to watch after Dean. Then it was soon established that Sam was going to stay over at Gabriel’s for the night as well.

“He’ll be in good hands.” Cas assured a slightly worried Dean as he turned on an episode of Doctor Who.

“Are you sure?” Dean asked, giving Cas a look of doubt.

“I swear I wouldn’t leave your brother in incapable hands.” Cas assured him. “Now, you need to get some sleep. I would suggest we watch Sherlock, but I’ll save it for later.”

Dean nodded slowly, and sighed in content as Cas climbed under the covers beside him. They ended up scooting closer together when Dean shivered.

It was like this, pressed up against one another, Doctor Who playing softly, that the two boys finally drifted off to sleep.

Dean knew right then in this very moment despite all the shit that had happened today, that he was the happiest guy around.

He couldn’t wait and see what tomorrow would hold..

Dean let out one last sigh of content as he settled deeper under the blankets and curled himself into Castiel’s warm strong body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Song: Somewhere I Belong- Linkin Park


	4. I Can't Fight This Feeling

Soft morning light shone down onto the bed, leaving little trails of golden crisscrossed patterns across the warm soft blankets and warming the two sleeping bodies underneath it.

Dean's eyes were closed, but he began to slowly awaken as lights filtered in through the window. Sleepily, he willed his body to wake up slowly as he listened to sweet sound of bird singing outside and the irritating hum of cicadas in the trees. Apart from the animals outside, the only other sound Dean could hear in the room was the soft hushed sounds of breathing.

All at once, Dean suddenly realized that he was curled into a very warm, clingy body and there someone’s arm was slung limply across him. Hurriedly, he opened his eyes, expecting to see Sam's face in front of him, but instead finding Castiel’s face less than an inch away from his.

Dean fought hard to keep himself from jumping in shock. He had completely forgotten that Cas had slept over with him. Dean’s mind swam as the events of the previous day came flooding back into his mind. The band meeting, physics class, getting beat up, Cas showing up to save him, falling asleep together in the same bed. Dean's brain hurt from the thought of it. None if it seemed real. He must still be dreaming. Dean wanted to pinch himself just to check but he was scared that any sort of movement would wake Cas up.

Trying his best to stay perfectly still, Dean attempted to relax and slow his racing heart as he let his eyes scan Castiel's sleeping face. Somehow, Cas was even more beautiful when he slept.

Castiel's spikey blue and black hair stuck up all over the place in an unruly mess. Dean wasn’t exactly sure how Castiel’s hair could get any messier, seeing that it always looked like he just had sex. Dean wasn’t complaining though, he loved Castiel’s messy sex hair. It added to his friend’s beauty and obvious perfection.

As Dean took in more of Castiel’s sleeping face his eyes rested on the boy’s pretty plush lips which were damp and slightly parted. Their faces were so damn close that Dean could feel each little breath of air on his face as Castiel breathed. It took pure willpower for Dean to resist the urge to lean forward and close the gap between their lips. Cas was just so damn tempting. It was like taking a kid to the world's biggest sweet shop, but telling him everything was only for decoration. It seemed like Cas was the apple in the garden of Eden and Dean’s own mind was that snake trying to whisper in his ear, telling him to grow a pair and take a bite.

As Dean watched Castiel sleep he couldn't help but connect his perfection to be the equivalent of an angel. Cas was the actual embodiment of an angel sent from heaven. That had to be why Cas was so perfect.

Well...  his band name was the fallen angels so… maybe he had been kicked out of heaven for his rebellious punk rock ways...

 _'Oh my God… I am literally overanalyzing the relationship of a band name and a nickname I just gave Cas? What the fuck?'_ Dean thought to himself with a small smirk on his lips. Sometimes he even confused himself.

Dean wished more than anything that he could stay like this forever, tucked under Castiel's arm, pressed against his body, wrapped in the warm heat he was putting off.

As Dean drank in Castiel's perfection, Castiel's eyelids fluttered before opening and gazing into his own eyes with wonder. Dean couldn't help but think that Castiel's eye seemed even bluer in this lighting.

As the two of them stared silently at each other, a small smirk grew on Castiel's lips. Dean realized awkwardly that he was still staring at Cas. However, he couldn’t bring himself to look away as his own lips began to twitch upwards into a smile as well. As he smiled, Dean had to hold back a small wince of pain as his smile pulled sharply at the torn part of his lips.

"Were you watching me sleep?" Castiel asked, that smirk still blossoming across his angelic face.

Dean blushed and held back a moan as he listened to the rough gravely, sound of Castiel's morning voice. If anything it was even sexier than Castiel's normal gruff voice.

As Dean fumbled for an answer he shifted a little before freezing and cursing himself as he began to notice that he had a little morning guest waiting for him inside his pants.  _'Why now?'_ Dean thought to himself in embarrassment.

After a minute, Dean whispered back, "Uh… Maybe…. Anyways, how'd you sleep?"

"Not too bad, your bed is pretty damn comfy Dean. I might need to crash here more often." Cas joked as he watched Dean’s face intently.

Dean's face flushed even darker red as he stared back into those intense sparkling blue orbs and said, "I think I'd be okay with that."

Castiel laughed cheerily as he said, "Good, cause we have to do this more often."

“Definitely!” Dean said with a smile on his face.

As they both lay there on their sides facing one another, Dean noted that the two of them were still very close to each other and it didn't seem like Cas was going to move anytime soon. Dean was perfectly happy to stay like this all wrapped up in Castiel's body.

Even Castiel's arm was still draped over him. What made this moment even better was when Dean felt Castiel's thumb absentmindedly start to move slowly back and forth across his arm.

It took a great deal of Dean's will power to force himself to keep his eyes open and not fall asleep on Cas. (Although he was falling asleep again, Castiel’s touches didn't really help with Dean's morning wood, which was probably going to become a problem at some point in time)

"How are you feeling today?" Cas asked him, making Dean’s eyes pop open again.

Dean looked into Castiel’s softening eyes and saw the look of genuine concern on his face. It was clear that Cas didn't even realize that he was rubbing Dean's arm and putting him to sleep.

Dean shrugged slightly, wincing a little in the process as he moved muscles that apparently weren't all too happy with him. "I've been better I guess." He finally said.

Dean would have said he's been worse, which was true, but he wasn't sure that Cas would have been comforted by that.

"Do you need anything?" Cas asked, with worry in his voice as he let his tongue dart out an moisten his lips.

 _'Yeah, I need you. I need you to kiss me with those glorious lips of yours.'_ Dean thought as he let his eyes trail after that soft pink tongue. He wished more than anything that he could know what Cas tasted like in every possible way. Dean wanted Cas to be his and his alone. Quickly, Dean pulled himself from his thoughts and brought his eyes back up to look into Castiel's face as he said, "I think I'm good for now."

Just as Dean spoke, his stomach told Cas otherwise as it grumbled loudly, giving its own opinion.

"Are you sure?" Cas asked with a soft bubble of adorable laughter, "I think your stomach is telling me a different story."

Dean's face flushed bright red, heat filling his cheek as he said, "Yeah, uh... my stomach always seems to chime in at the worst times."

"It's all good." Cas said with a smile, "Is it cool if we go down and raid you pantry for some breakfast?"

Dean's mind instantly jumped to himself pushing Cas up against the kitchen counters and kissing him stupid, but this an image of his dad interrupted the thought. All at once it hit Dean that he had no idea if John was home or not. If he was, Dean wasn’t sure what he would say to his father about Cas being there without asking if it was okay or not first. Dean hoped to God that John had picked this weekend to stay out.

"Is everything okay?" Cas asked, concern filling his face again at Dean's extended silence.

"Yeah, everything's good, I'm just not sure if my dad's home. If he is, he won't be happy that I didn't tell him I invited you over." Dean explained without getting into too much detail. He figured that Cas would understand. Dean assumed that most parents would be cross if their kids invited someone over without asking first. Little did Cas know that John would give Dean hell if he ever found out about this. It would be even worse if John figured out that Sam was over at Castiel’s house.

Cas pursed his lips slightly, understanding Dean’s point but still making it into a joke as he said, "Well I did insist."

Dean chuckled and rolled his eyes but in his mind he hoped that Cas never had to find out the cold harsh reality of his father. Dean never wanted Cas to meet the man who had failed to raise him properly and took his anger out on him.  He would do anything in his power to prevent Cas from meeting John Winchester.

Dean soon realized that he was going to have to get up eventually though he really didn’t want to. He was just so comfortable lying like this and well… once he stood up it would be really hard to hide his obvious boner. Dean didn't want Cas to get the wrong idea. Sure he could pass it off as typical morning wood, Cas would understand that. However, in reality only half of his current hard on was caused by morning wood, most of it was from being close to Cas and staring into his eyes for so damn long.

"I don't wanna get up..." Dean grumbled, burying his head into the pillows.

Cas leaned his head forward and rested his forehead against the side of Dean's head and whispered, "Me either. I wish we could just stay in bed all day."

Dean's heart was racing at a million miles an hour. Castiel was now even closer than before. Dean knew if he turned his head they would literally be nose to nose. Dean couldn't believe it, but he forced himself to stay where he was at. Cas was probably just an affectionate person who liked being in uncomfortably close proximities with people. He was pretty famous after all; Cas was probably used to being in close spaces with other people. Maybe he found comfort in that.

Dean sure as hell found comfort in this, though he was typically more of a loner. It was still just nice feeling like he was protected by someone for a change, even if all of this was strictly platonic. Dean was always the one protecting Sam; he was always the one with bullies on his ass; he was the one who constantly had to watch what he said, so it was nice to feel protected by someone who cared about him instead of the other way around.

“Maybe we could just stay here all day…” Dean whispered softly.

Dean’s stomach chimed into the conversation once again making Cas laugh and say, “Yeah well lets at least get food first.”

"Ughh..." Dean groaned, “Its soooo far…”

“Oh shut up Dean.” Cas said with a snort.

After a minute Dean groaned again and rolled over to get to the side of the bed. However, the moment he moved Dean froze and winced in pain. Everything hurt. His head, his arms, his legs, his stomach, hell even his throat hurt. Each movement he made only brought on more pain.

"Dean?" Castiel asked in concern, picking up on Dean’s pain as he placed his hand lightly on Dean's arm. "You okay?"

Dean slowly nodded his head, making lights flash before his eyes even as he said, "Yeah, I'm good. Just a little sore is all."

"Do you need me to get you something for the pain like medicine or an Ice pack maybe?" Cas asked as he too sat up.

"Nah, we'll get some when we go down stairs it all good." Dean said through gritted teeth. The only thing that the pain was good was that it had instantly killed his morning wood. This kind of pain and boners don't exactly work well together. At least it made things easier for him.

Once the wave of pain had passed, Dean slowly proceeded to get up. He tossed back the blankets and gingerly placed his feet onto the floor.

With slow, haltering steps Dean carefully made his way to the window and peered outside. Much to Dean's relief John's truck was nowhere in sight. This meant that John probably wasn't going to be home until at least Sunday night. If he wasn't home on a Saturday morning, there was close to a hundred percent chance that you wouldn't see him until Monday morning.

"Is your dad home?" Cas asked curiously as Dean heard his feet padding softly across the floor behind him.

Dean shook his head and said, "Nope, were good." As he turned back to Cas.

When Dean turned, his face instantly flushed red when he saw Castiel. Dean hadn't realized until now that the boy wasn't wearing a shirt. All Cas was wearing was a pair of boxers and nothing else. Dean quickly let his eyes rake across the firm, muscular, tattooed chest. He wished that he could just reach out at touch that perfectly tanned, smooth skin. Dean wanted to trace his fingers across each and every one of those beautiful tattoos on Castiel’s flawless skin. He wanted to hug Castiel tight and burry his face into his neck so he could inhale the perfect scent of his beautiful skin. Dean wanted to spend hours and hours memorizing every last detail of Castiel’s warm body as he peppered him with kisses.

As Dean marveled at Castiel's perfection, Dean noticed that Cas's eyes were now slowly trailing up and down his body in a slow, thorough scan. Dean hadn’t realized until now that he too was only wearing his boxers.

Dean faintly recalling Cas helping him undress at some point in the night because the fabric was rubbing painfully against some of his injuries.

As they stood there checking each other out, Dean didn't miss the moment when Castiel's eyes looked down and lingered on his crotch area. Dean flushed when his dick twitch curiously in his boxers. He hoped Cas hadn’t seen that.

In a moment of weakness, Dean let his own eyes dart down to Castiel's crotch. Dean could have fainted at the sight. It was clear that Cas wasn't hard, but holy shit, just judging by the outline his underwear was making, Cas was fucking big. He was really fucking big.

As he forced himself to tear his eyes away Dean hoped that he wasn't drooling. Though Castiel was definitely a drool worthy person in Dean's eyes he didn't think that it would be appropriate at the moment.

It seemed like at the same moment the two of them looked back into each other's faces and smiled and one another. They had both finished assessing each other and it was back to being normal now. All the awkwardness immediately evaporated from the air as they smiled shyly at each other.

Cas was the first to break the silence between them as he stuttered, "Well, uh... you... you wanna go down and get some breakfast?"

"Y-yeah..." Dean agreed slightly breathless from that strange moment that was shared between them.   _‘Are Castiel's cheeks flushed?’_ Dean thought to himself silently. _‘Oh my God is he blushing? Did I make Cas uncomfortable?’_ Dean hoped that it was just a trick his mind was playing on him. Dean didn't want to scare Cas away already. That was so far from what he wanted to do.

Dean took a slow step towards Cas and felt his legs nearly give out on him. Apparently his body really wasn't taking too kindly to that beating he had gotten yesterday. Dean was really feeling the burn of it now.

As he took that faltering step forward Dean suddenly found himself falling forward and landing in Castiel's arms. Cas had moved with lightning quick reflexed and hooked his arms underneath Dean's too keep him from hitting the ground.

"Woah, hey, Dean it's alright. We can take this slow." Cas soothed as he sunk to the ground, Dean still clutched securely in his arms.

"I'm fine Cas. Honestly." Dean tried to tell him as Cas pulled kept his arms around Dean in a protective, cradling manor.

"Like hell you are!" Cas exclaimed with disapproval prominent in his voice. "You were just about to have a face full of floor for breakfast if I didn't catch you."

"I just got up too fast okay." Dean said trying to give Cas a lame excuse while still letting Castiel hold him close. Dean couldn't remember the last time he had been held like this. It was probably back when his mom was still around. Dean couldn't help but loose himself in the moment. It was nice being cared for by someone else. It felt really damn nice.  _Not that he would admit that._ He was a nerd yes, but he still wasn't one for chick flick moments.  _Well... every now and then some doctor who feels would hit him,_ but it was never any girly moments that involved real life situations. He still had to be the strong big brother who got his ass kicked so Sam wouldn't get hurt instead.

"You are the most stubborn, thickheaded nerd I have met in my entire life." Cas groaned with a sarcastic roll of his eyes.

"I've heard." Dean said, chuckling lightly. His head was still spinning just a little bit as he looked into Castiel's perfect face.

Dean seemed to be in some sort of trance when he looked into that face. Cas could seriously make the pain fade from Dean’s body with a simply glance. It was strange, maybe it was just the effects of being hit in the head so hard yesterday, maybe it was just his morning brain (both the upstairs and the downstairs one) trying to process everything or.... Or maybe it was the fact that Castiel was right here so close to him. Maybe it was the fact that all of a sudden Castiel was looking at him with a strange intense look on his face. Maybe it was the fact that they only seemed to be half an inch away from each other's faces.

Dean's forest green eyes were stuck on Castiel's deep soulful blue ones. He swore that those eyes held the key to heaven and hell alike. Cas was the sun, the sea and the sky all wrapped up into one punk rock ball of perfection. He was fire and ice fighting for control. Cas was honestly everything that Dean ever wanted and suddenly it seemed like he was leaning just a little bit closer to him now.

Were they leaning in? Was Castiel's face getting closer to his? Dean's heart felt like it was pounding out of his chest. They must be closer. Dean didn't remember Castiel's nose being that close to his a second ago. Were they closer?  _They had to be_

Dean quickly broke eye contact with Castiel for a split second as he let his eyes dart down to those perfect lips of his. Those perfect pale lips and that beautiful pink tongue darting out between them to trail softly across his lips. Dean could have fainted as he drank in the sight of Castiel's now split slick lips. They were beautiful and glinted softly in the dim lighting of the room. Dean felt like he couldn't breathe as his lungs screamed for air.  _'Holy fuck yes he is closer. Is this really going to happen?'_ Dean screamed in his mind.

Dean let his eyes lift back up to Castiel's slowly and what he saw made his mouth water. There was a look of hunger and desire in those blue lust blown eyes. A look that screamed a million promises of love, desire, protection, adventure and danger all wrapped into one beautiful moment.

Suddenly, Castiel's head was moving in and just about to close the gap between them when suddenly, the loud ringing sound of a cell phone broke through their moment and made the two of them jump apart.

Dean hid his look of disappointment as his heart now raced in shock rather than excitement. Castiel hurriedly leaned away from Dean, avoiding eye contact as his cheeks stained a dark pink color as he asked, "Is that my phone? I think that's my phone. Give me a sec."

Dean's cheeks heated and he watched sadly after Cas as the boy let go of him and stood up. He leaned against the side of the bed and tried not to let his eyes trail after the mostly naked Cas. It wasn't an easy task to accomplish, but embarrassment from the previous moment helped him with that.

 _'Leave it to me to mess up and misinterpret a moment like that.'_ Dean scolded himself. He couldn't believe he had almost let himself kiss Cas. Dean had no idea if that's what Cas even wanted. This whole head injury thing from yesterday was seriously testing his level on control and thought process.  _'Fuck, Cas probably didn't even see that moment the same way I did. What the hell? Get a fucking grip on yourself!'_ Dean screamed in his head. He had been so stupid and now things were probably going to be awkward between them. That was seriously the last thing he wanted right now.

From the other side of the bed, Dean heard Cas answer the phone and say, "Jesus Gabriel, nothing like calling at ass o-clock in the morning. What the fuck do you want?"

Cas was silent for a minute before Dean heard, "I don't think he cares. Beside, I'm staying over for longer."

There was silence again, before Cas let out an annoyed huff of air and called to him, "Dean, do you care if Sam stays over at my place longer? Gabriel is insisting that I ask you."

Dean poked his head up over the bed so he could see Cas as he said, "No I don't care. He can stay until your folks kick him out if he wants."

A small smile tugged at the corners of Castiel's mouth as he relayed this information back to his brother through the phone.

"Next time don't fucking call me this early. I don't even remember the last damn time you woke up this early on a weekend. Has hell frozen over?" Cas asked with a note of irritation returning to his voice.

Cas was quiet again as he listened to what Gabriel had to say. As Cas listened, Dean slowly lowered himself back onto the floor, feeling weak and tired even from only using a small amount of energy.

Once Cas got off the phone, he quickly rushed back to Dean's side and asked, "You doing alright? You look a little pale."

"I'm doing just peachy..." Dean snorted softly.

Castiel's eyes were still filled with concern for him so Dean said, "I'm sure it looks worse than it feels." Dean knew that was probably a lie even as he heard the words fall off his lips. He didn't want to look in the mirror because he was sure that what looked back at him would be a nightmare. If his face was any reflection of what Dean felt right now, then he really should be worried.

"No, you actually don't look too bad and that's why I'm worried." Cas said lightly, as he placed his hand gently on Dean's arm. "I don't think you're telling me how bad it really is. Those guys got you real good yesterday."

"I'm fine I swear." Dean insisted, refusing to make eye contact with Cas. He didn't want another tense moment between them like that. Not right now anyways, not until he was sure it was something that Cas wanted too. Though he didn't have high hopes of Cas ever wanting to be anything more than friends. Dean was okay with that too, granted, a relationship with him would be amazing, but he would take what he was given. He always had. Dean never expected much, nor did he expect to get what he wanted, but he always just took what he was given and moved on.

Sam deserved better things than he did. Sam was better than he was. There was no doubt in Dean's mind about it. Sam deserved the world, and Dean was determined to give up his own just so his brother could have the best childhood he could get given their circumstances.

"Here, you should get back into bed and I'll make something for breakfast." Cas said as he carefully curled his hand around Dean's arm and slowly pulled upwards.

"No, that's not fair!" Dean insisted as Cas helped him sit on the side of the bed. "I mean, you’re the guest! I should be making you food!"

"Not when you're like this you're not." Cas said with an incredulous look at Dean. "There's no way I'm letting you make something when you can barely walk to the window and back."

"But-"

"No Dean. I'm serious. Think of me as your personal, chief, maid, servant, guardian type... thing..." Cas said as he awkwardly trailed off at the end of his sentence, causing Dean to laugh loudly.

His chest ached as he laughed but it was completely worth it just to see Castiel's cheeks heat up embarrassment while his lips curled up at the corners to reveal a small flash of his glinting white teeth. "Shut up Dean." Cas murmured as he covered his face and laughed shyly.

That only made Dean smirk in triumph leaving Cas to roll his eyes and feign irritation when he asked, "You do like eggs right? And furthermore, are there eggs downstairs?"

Dean lay back on the bed carefully, trying not to strain himself any further as he nodded and said, "Yeah, eggs are good. I like eggs. We should have some in the fridge..."

He knew that there was no point in trying to fight against Cas. It was clear that he wasn't going to be allowed to get up for now. Cas would probably end up pinning him down to the bed if it got him to stay in place.  _(Not that Dean would complain if that happened, nor would that prompt him to stay still)_ but he didn't really see the point in fighting it, so he just decided to let Cas do what he wanted.

"Awesome!" Cas said with a beam as he picked up the TV remote from Dean's side table and added, "Here's the remote in case you get bored. I'll be back in like ten minutes, so if you even fucking try to get up I’ll personally-"

"Calm down, calm down, I promise I'll be good." Dean said with a soft smirk. Over the years, Dean had to learn to follow the rules even if he didn't like them, whether it was his dad's rules, his teacher’s rules, his bullies rules, or made by his small collection of friends. Dean always had to listen to everyone else. He had never felt like he was allowed to make his own decisions. That's why it was so hard trying to be around Cas. There was no one to tell him how to act or feel. He was all on his own and it scared him a little bit.

His sexuality was honestly one of the only things about himself that he had determined on his own (Besides his taste in music). Being gay wasn’t something he had been told to be, that was just who he was and who he had always been. No one had told him to be gay which is why he now found himself so alone and scared. Everyone else he knew seemed to be straight and they all looked down on homosexual people. That just made him even more insecure and was the reason why he kept his sexuality to himself most of the time. No matter how much he accepted his own sexuality it still felt wrong society always said how wrong being gay was.

Dean quickly shook off the thought as he reached up and took the remote from Cas. "Thank you." Dean breathed as he let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes as he laid his head back into his pillow. He hated how off track his thought could get. It proved to be very distracting at times.

"I'll be right back." Cas said brightly, causing Dean to open his eyes again and watch him as he bounded off towards the kitchen.

Once he was gone, Dean was left with nothing more than his thoughts again. Always a recipe for disaster, but Dean was almost too tired to focus his thoughts on anything anyways. It was surprising how much getting your ass kicked wore a person out.

Slowly, as his body screamed in protest, Dean rolled over and curled into a tiny ball underneath the blankets. Then, as he waited for Cas to return he flicked through the various shows on Netflix until he finally settled on one of his favorite episodes of Torchwood.

He let the show play softly throughout the room as he tried to focus on some of the good things in his life for a change. Dean was growing tired of looking at the negatives in life. There were just so many of them. Maybe it was time to try and change something, at least until he was feeling better. It might help the recovery process just a little bit.

Dean's thoughts first flicked to Sam, his wonderful pain in the ass little brother. He inwardly hoped that he was having a good time with Gabriel and Balthazar. At least he was sure that his brother was in good hands. He trusted Castiel and everything that he said completely. That was probably a stupid mistake on his part, since he had no reason to trust Cas, but he just seemed so believable about everything. It was hard not to believe the things that Cas said.

Slowly, Dean's thoughts began to shift from his little brother and onto the boy who was currently cooking food in his kitchen. Dean envisioned what Castiel was doing right now.

He pictured Cas standing shirtless in front of the stove with his sleepy sex-like morning hair as he cooked breakfast and ran his fingers through his black and blue hair. The thought along was nearly enough to make Dean moan a little. He almost considered going into the kitchen himself just so he wouldn't have to imagine that image, but the sharp jabbing pain in his ribs told him to stay where he was.

Instead, Dean let his mind travel further and further away from his show as he focused more and more on Castiel. Dean thought of what it would feel like to have Cas hovering above him, his body just barely pressing down against his. Castiel's hair tickling his cheeks and neck as the boy leaned down to kiss a line up his jaw. Dean sighed, trying to inhale the scent of Cas off the pillow he had been sleeping on. If he closed his eyes, he could still believe that Cas was still there beside him. He longed for a day where he could wake up beside Cas every single day of his life.

Dean wished he could kiss those perfect lips.  _'Why did Gabriel’s phone call have to ruin the fucking moment!'_ Dean thought to himself.  _'We were so close. I almost think that Cas wanted us to kiss. I could practically taste him on the air.'_

Dean sighed and rolled over onto his back, spreading his arms in defeat and ignoring the pain that tore through his body.

"You alright?" Cas asked from the doorway, making Dean jump a little.

"Ah-" Dean yelped in pain as he flinched. He hadn't even heard Cas arrive, hell he hadn't even heard him clattering around in the kitchen. Maybe he had just been too deep in his thoughts to notice. "Y-yeah... I'm good." Dean murmured after a second. "Just thinking is all."

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Cas said apologetically, "Whatcha thinking about?"

Dean's cheeks flushed, he was thankful that his curtains were still shut, leaving his room a little darker than normal. Maybe if he was lucky Cas wouldn't notice the blush creeping up his cheeks.

"Nothing really... Just... just stuff." Dean said vaguely.

Cas walked over to the bed, two plates in his hand as he said, "Seems like some pretty deep stuff judging by that sigh I heard."

"It's nothing. Honestly." Dean said, smiling softly at Cas, hoping that he would drop the subject.  _'Yeah, nothing meaning I'm thinking about how much I wanna rip all of your clothes off right here and kiss the shit out of you.'_

Cas shrugged and said, "Whatever you say. I suppose the Doctor must have some secrets after all.”

Dean smirked and rolled his eyes as Cas handed him a plate of food. As he took the plate, the wonderful smell of it reached his nose and filled the room. He could tell right away that Cas knew how to work his way around a kitchen. Dean couldn’t help but think about how hot that was. "Thanks Cas." Dean said happily as Cas sat down beside him on the bed.

"I hope you like it. By the way, I also found pie in the fridge. It kinda just seemed suiting I guess." Cas said as he gestured towards the plate in Dean's hands.

"No way, we had pie down there?" Dean gasped in shock, his eye flitting instantly to the plate.

"Yeah, it was just sitting there in the fridge, it was pecan. I wasn't sure if you liked pie or not, but I figured it was worth a shot." Cas explained as he picked up his fork and carefully cut away a bite of his eggs.

"Dude." Dean said, opened mouthed with joy, "I fucking love pie! I could live off of pie!"  _'How the hell did he know I liked pie! He must be fucking magical or some shit.'_ Dean thought to himself.

A huge smile split across Castiel's face as he said, "Damn, thank God I wasn't sure if you would like it or not. I just figured that pie makes everything better."

"You're fucking right it does!" Dean said as he scooped away a big forkful of the pie. "And pecan is my favorite!"

"Well lucky me for bringing you the perfect breakfast." Cas snorted as laughed at Dean.

Dean's face melted into bliss as the pie touched his tongue. A rainbow of flavors exploded across his mouth, leaving him nearly drooling from its perfection. There was nothing that could compare to the taste of pie in Dean's books.  _'Well, except for maybe Castiel's lips.'_ Said a small voice in the back of his mind.

"Jesus Dean, don't cream your pants now. It's just pie." Cas teased as he watched Dean with rapt attention.

Dean instantly felt his face flush red with embarrassment. In his pie heaven he had momentarily forgotten that he wasn't alone in the room.

When he peaked over at Castiel, Dean couldn't help but notice that his cheeks seemed to also be flushed and his eyes were kinda wide. Cas even seemed just a little breathless, but Dean quickly looked away and brushed it off as his imagination and the strangeness of the moment between them.  _'Cas has to think I'm fucking nuts...'_ Dean thought to himself, his cheeks felt even warmer than before. 

"I-uh... sorry..." Dean murmured, "I uh-... I just really like pie..."

"What? No! I never would have guessed!" Cas gasped feigning shock, as he spoke his voice seemed to waver just a little bit.

Dean laughed his cheeks still very warm, as he refused to make eye contact with Cas.

"You know Dean. You're so strange...." Cas murmured softly once Dean had busied himself with his food once again (making sure that he made significantly less noise as he ate this time).

Dean felt his heart sink.  _'No, please don't let this happen?'_ Dean silently begged.  _'He's finally realizing just how fucking weird I am. He's probably gonna leave now... I can't believe I scared him off.'_

"Wh-what do you mean?" Dean stuttered as he tried to hide the fear and confusion in his tone.

"I mean, you're so shy and quiet, but there is just so much more to you than that. It like there's this whole secret world just hidden inside of your head. I just can't quiet seem to grasp what you're thinking when you're off in that invisible world. Gabriel was right... I see it in your eyes. It's confusing and mystifying. There is just so much mystery to you Dean Winchester." Cas murmured, softly. As he spoke, Dean looked up slowly and looked into Castiel's face. His brilliant blue eyes seemed to just scan his face in wonderment. Like he was truly trying to see into his soul and find everything that was hidden there. Cas paused for a moment before he leaned in just a little closer and whispered, "I can't wait to find out all the wonderful secrets you're hiding away from everyone. You've got a beautiful soul Dean..."

Dean was breathless, he didn't know what to say, and Cas was once again in his personal space bubble. He was sure his heart was gonna explode. Cas was mystified by him  _CAS WAS MYSTIFIED BY HIM._ Dean wanted to kiss him. He wanted to smash their lips together and make everything just perfect between them. Just as he was about to move though, Cas pulled his head back and took another bite of his food.

Dean's heart fell, another missed opportunity....  _'It's not like you'd actually have the guts to do it anyways. It's only your little damn fantasy Dean. Nothing more.'_ He told himself forlornly.

"So what are we watching?" Cas asked as he looked up towards the screen.

"Torchwood." Dean said as he cleared his throat and looked up too.

"Ah, I've watched a bit of this, always had a little trouble getting into it though. It's a lot different than Doctor Who... more CSI like, Less aliens, more killing... Kinda weird…"

"Yeah, but  _Harkness!"_ Dean exclaimed in awe. He had to admit, John Barrowmen was one of his _‘gay things_ ’. Dean could go on for hours about him.

"Yeah... true... but still… he's in Doctor Who too...." Cas said with a soft shrug of his shoulders.

"Did you ever finish Torchwood all the way though?" Dean asked with a curious glance at Cas.

Cas shook his head and said, "Nah... I stopped partway through season one."

Dean threw his head back and groaned as he said, "Noooo Cas... You have to watch at least a little more of it than that. I mean, yeah it can't beat Doctor Who, but  _Harkness."_ Dean moaned softly, emphasizing his point before adding sadly, "And you can't forget about him and Ianto."

"Ianto? Is that the weird little assistant guy?" Cas asked, "Him! He was in that one Doctor Who episode, I remember that." Cas exclaimed as he pointed up at the screen as he appeared.

"Yeah him." Dean said fondly. One thing he loved about BBC shows is that they were completely chill with homosexual relationships. It was just so casual throughout a lot of the series, where as if it was an American show, people would go batshit crazy if a homosexual couple was even mentions. ' _America’s fucked up logic... Fighting over all the wrong things...'_ Dean thought somberly to himself.

"Didn’t Ianto have a girlfriend or something at the start of the series?" Cas asked squinting his eyes.

"Yeah, but she died..." Dean said softly, “Then him and Jack get together and holy shit it is hot and adorable all wrapped into one perfect little ball."

Dean gave Cas a sideways glance and saw him smiling softly. He couldn't help but wonder what could be running through Castiel's mind.  _'I'm really not the mysterious one. I'm like an open book.'_ Dean thought.  _'Cas is the one shrouded in secrets and mystery.'_

"So you're chill with gay couples?" Cas asked carefully.

Dean considered the question carefully before thinking  _'What the hell'_ and saying, "Hell yeah I am. I usually find them cuter than straight couples to be completely honest."

Cas was silent, his eyes focused on the screen above.

Dean chewed on his lip. What were Castiel's thought on this? Did he just loose his friend now because of his own personal views? Was Cas religious? He hadn't even thought to ask. Maybe he thought this was wrong... maybe Cas hated him now...

"You know... I don't find very many people who say that..." Cas murmured. He suddenly looked over at Dean and gave him a wide smile. "It's nice to see that someone finally sees things the same way as me. You’re different… I like that."

Dean's jaw almost dropped. He tried his best to not to look dumbfounded at Castiel’s answer. This was a miracle. How was Cas so perfect. "Maybe I need to give the show another chance. At least for The Jack/Ianto relationship." Cas said with a soft smile.

"Y-yeah... You really should..." Dean said still in shock.

"So, while were here, you wanna start watching Sherlock?" Cas asked with a wicked smile.

"S-sure why not." Dean answered. He really didn’t care what they did, because right now he was simply trying not to get a hard on from the way that Cas was looking at him. That was something easier said than done.

As Cas looked for Sherlock on Netflix, Dean set aside his now mostly empty plate.

"Thank you for breakfast Cas." Dean murmured as he settled back under the blankets. "It was really great! I owe you one."

Cas smirked, glanced at him from the corner of his eye and winked at him. Dean’s heart leapt in his chest and he almost began to hyperventilate.

The fucker had winked.

Cas really had to stop doing that before Dean grabbed him and smashed him up against a wall and kissed him stupid. That was bound to happen eventually if Cas didn’t stop doing shit like that. Dean’s level of control could really only go so far before he snapped.

"H-how many seasons of Sherlock are there?" Dean asked curiously as he watched Cas from the corner of his eye.

"Three, but their coming out with season four soon. Even though they've taken a billion years to do so." Cas groaned in disappointment.

"Huh..." Dean hummed, deep in his thoughts.

Just as Cas was about to start the show Dean exclaimed, "Woah! Wait what the fuck! Does that say nine episodes?"

Cas laughed and said, "Yeahh....”

“I thought you said there was three seasons!” Dean said in confusion.

“There are…” Cas said with a smirk on his face. “Three seasons, nine episodes, three episodes a season..."

"What! That's total bullshit!" Dean said with a laugh.

"Tell that to everyone in the fandom who has to wait ten billion years between each season." Cas said bitterly.

"How long are the episodes?" Dean asked incredulously.

"About an hour in and a half, but still not nearly enough screen time..." Cas said as he started the show. "But it's totally worth the watch."

Then the two of them proceeded to watch the entire first season together, Cas snuggling up against Dean and tossing his arm around his shoulders protectively. Dean secretly wished that everyday could be like this. Everything just felt so... so  _right._ Dean knew that he belonged with Cas and he hoped that one day it would happen eventually.

The hours passed by faster than Dean could have imagined.

He and Cas laughed and joked, poking fun at each other and completely losing themselves in the show. After they had gotten through the first season they ended up switching shows and watching a large variety of other things on Netflix.

When Castiel's stomach growled hours later he had vanished downstairs only to return less than ten minutes later with sandwiches, sodas and chips in hand. Dean swore that Cas knew his own kitchen better than he did. Not to mention that Cas had made the best sandwiches Dean had ever eaten in his entire life. He decided that guys who could cook like Gods were his new turn on.

When they grew bored of watching Netflix they decided that they needed to get up and stretch their legs a little bit, that was when Dean's old guitar was pulled out.

"Wow..." Cas breathed, "She is a beauty. I can't wait to teach you how to play her..."

"I remember my best frie- someone that I used to hang out with bought it for me for my fifteenth birthday." Dean explained, trying to push back the thoughts of the person who had left him behind. “He knew I had always wanted to become a rock star.”

Cas was looking at Dean with that penetrating stare again as he asked, "Dean, are you alright?"

"Y-yeah... I'm fine." Dean lied, shaking off his thoughts of the past.

"You do know you can tell me anything. I'm not one to judge, I mean, we've all got some kind of darkness in our past, right." Cas said with a slightly pained smile.

Dean remained silent, watching as Castiel's fingers drifted over the guitar strings absently.

After a moment, the silence was broken when Cas looked down at the guitar again and began to play a few notes.

Instantly Cas winced and said, "Shit Winchester, you do know that guitars need to be tuned every once and a while even if you don't play it."

Dean smirked, dark thoughts immediately pushed to the side as he said, "Yeah, well, honestly I never learned how to tune it either."

Cas bowed his head in mock disappointment before saying, "I can't believe you. How long have you had this thing? Roughly three years and you can't even tune it?"

Dean laughed and said, "Well when it is tuned I can halfway play the intro to _'Sweet Child O' Mine_ ' and the intro to ‘ _Some Kind of Monster’._ YouTube was very helpful."

"Well, at least you can play something, but before you know it I'm gonna teach you to play much more than that." Cas said as he quickly began to tune Dean's out of whack instrument.

As the guitars notes hummed through the air Dean was drawn back to the past. He remembered when he had first received the guitar. Dean had been so excited, happy, and shocked. His friend had even offered to teach him to play, though his friend could barely play either. He had said they could learn together using YouTube and such. That hadn't really happened though; neither of them could focus on it long enough or chose the same song to learn. Soon they had both given it up and moved onto other things. It wasn't long after that however that Dean had scared off said friend who had sworn never to leave him.

As Cas lost himself in the tuning of the guitar, Dean took a deep breath and asked, "Have you ever told something that ruined everything?"

Cas stopped for a moment and looked up at Dean. He could feel the other boys eyes on his face, but Dean couldn't bring himself to look up at him.

"What do you mean?" Cas asked.

"Like something you regretted telling someone and still regret to this day." Dean said, trying to explain his point further.

"Course I have. I've done a lot of stupid shit in my past, though never quite as stupid as the things my brother has done." Cas said, with a small laugh, trying to keep the mood in the room light. "Why are you asking?"

"I-I just- I don't know. It was a stupid question." Dean said, quickly shaking his head and trying to drop the subject all together.

"Dean you need to stop running from your demons. You can't run forever, even The Doctor had to stop running at some point." Cas said as he put the guitar aside and scooted closer to Dean.

Dean took a deep breath, which he instantly regretted since he found himself wincing in pain from the bruises on his body. Cas was right, and Dean hated that. He didn't want Cas to be right. Dean just wanted to run as fast and as far as he could until his past was just a glimmer of nothingness on the horizon. Unfortunately, that just wasn't how life worked. You were always stuck with you past; you decisions and choices would follow you until the end of time. Dean didn't have a time machine to go back and change his past. He knew that even if he accepted his choices he would still never love himself the way he should. How could he, after everything that had gone wrong in his life, after he broke everything he ever touched? Dean was a screw up and he knew it.

"You don't want to hear about my problems Cas." Dean scoffed, "I don't want to burden you with them either. I'm not worth the time."

Castiel's face grew almost angry as he growled, "I don't ever wanna fucking hear you say that ever again. You  _are_ worth the time Dean Winchester. I don't care about your past or what you may have done. I just wanna know you now. I wanna know what makes Dean Winchester tick. So, don't you ever say that again. You are worth the time to me. Always."

Dean's cheeks flushed and he looked at a small glint of light reflecting off of his forgotten guitar.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that part out loud. See, I'm just a problem, I'm always upsetting someone else." Dean apologized.

Castiel's face softened as he placed on hand on Dean's leg and said, "Look at me. Please just look at me."

It took some time, but Dean finally brought himself to look at those brilliant TARDIS blue eyes flecked with the colors of the stars in the night sky. In those eyes was held the whole of time and space, the whole of reality, and lifetime of unending dreams and love. It seemed like a whole galaxy could be held in that glorious face of perfection. Once Dean looked into those sparkling orbs of light he couldn't bring himself to look away. Maybe Cas was the time machine he needed to make everything okay. Maybe Cas was the one who could make him forget about the past and only focus on the future. All he needed to do was keep Cas by his side as long as possible.

In his trance like state Dean heard Cas whisper, "I swear to you that you can tell me anything and I will never repeat it to another living soul. I won't push you for anything you don't wanna share with me, but I don't want you keeping things from me. I am simply here to listen and be you friend. You can tell me anything I promise you."

"W-why are you so nice to me Cas?" Dean asked in wonderment, he was baffled by the boy's complete and utter honesty. He could see the truth in those gleaming eyes. Cas truly meant every word of what he was saying and somehow, Dean trusted him more that he had ever trusted anyone in the entire world. Cas just had one of those faces that you just instantly trusted. Even through his bad boy façade Cas just had this aura that drew people to him.

"Because I think you're a great guy Dean. Besides, you're the Doctor, how could you not love the Doctor? Especially, if you're one of his companions… You know as well as I do that he should never travel alone. I'm ready for our adventures together through time and space."

Dean snorted and rolled his eyes, "You're not gonna come off of that one are you?"

"What? Calling you the Doctor?" Cas asked with a small attractive tilt of his head.

"Yeah." Dean said with a nod.

"Nope! Never. That's your new nickname!" Cas answered with a wicked smirk on his face.

Dean just shook his head and laughed as he said, "Well I guess that just makes me a madman with a blue box."

"But hey, who says there anything wrong with that?" Cas exclaimed happily.

Dean laughed in disbelief. Cas was one of the strangest, most confusing people in the entire world. To Dean, that just made him even more interesting and attractive.

When their laughter died down Cas finally sobered up again and asked, "So, uh, Dean. What did you wanna tell me?"

Dean's cheeks flushed scarlet as he remembered what had even started this conversation.

"Ah, never mind. It's not important." Dean said brushing the topic off.

Castiel's lips tightened slightly, but he didn't press Dean any further. Instead he just said, "If you change your mind just let me know okay."

Dean simply nodded and went back to watching Cas tune his the guitar, which was soon followed by simple, easy to memorize lessons.

By the end of an hour Dean's fingers felt like they had been gnawed on by a thousand hungry hamsters. Playing the guitar was a lot harder (and more painful) than he had expected it to be.

Once the guitar had been put away for the day they ordered pizza and just hung out and swapped personal stories with one another.

Dean learned that Castiel's parents were basically out of the picture. Their oldest brother Michael, who was in college, looked after and cared for Cas and Gabriel while their parents were busy on business trips and such. Since Balthazar was now in the band, he hung out with Cas and Gabe a lot so Michael usually just let him stay over for days at a time. According to Cas, Michael would always tell them,  _'I don't really care when the hell you lot do as long as you stay out of trouble and don't get anyone pregnant._ '

That thought kinda made Dean laugh to himself. He tried to imagine someone like Gabe or Balthazar trying to take care of a baby. They probably wouldn't know what to do with the damn thing.

From what Dean was learning about Cas, it seemed like him and his brother got to do just about anything they wanted whenever they wanted. Somehow, perfect Castiel had a life that seemed just as perfect as he was. Dean supposed that was just something that came with the whole fame thing and here he was, getting to know his idol on a first hand basis. Dean was just overwhelmed with shock and joy.

Some reality was brought into Castiel’s life story when Cas told him that having his entire family in the house at the same time was a rare occasion for them. They all made sure that it didn't happen too often.

Judging by the stories that Cas told him, their whole family in one room was just a natural disaster waiting to happen. Gabriel's pranks usually got out of hand while Cas and his father fought a lot and Michael and his mom typically just made things worse by butting into the situation. His house sounded like a warzone with his parents around.

Maybe Castiel's life wasn't so perfect after all, but it was still pretty damn close to it.

Meanwhile, Dean shared stories about his family with Cas. He told him how his dad often drank too much and could sometimes have a bit of an attitude when he was drunk. (Dean purposely under exaggerated the description of his father. He didn't need to explain to Cas that their father usually got violent when he was drunk. Dean didn't need to get into the details of how he was always the one to get the brunt of his father's anger, or how John would basically turn into the hulk by throwing and smash things in the middle of the night) Then he moved on to tell Cas that his mother had died in a house fire when Sam was only six months old and basically raised his brother. He also went on to say how Sam was working towards getting into law school and was hella smart. Dean left himself out in most of this story because he hated his own personal past and his own life stories. If Cas noticed this, he didn’t say anything about it.

When the pizza had arrived they soon moved their conversation on from family talk and began discus their interest which ranged from movies to comics to even books that they had read.

Dean was literally in heaven by the time they had finished eating. He couldn't have imagined a better day given the circumstances he was facing. The day had been so fun that Dean didn't realize that it was nearly eight pm until Sam came trapesing in the door telling Cas that Gabriel and Balthazar were waiting outside for him when he was ready.

Dean watched as Castiel's face fell in disappointment. "Damn... it’s funny how time flies when you're with a time lord."

Sam's face scrunched in confusion as he asked, "Uh, Cas, did you just call my brother a  _time lord?_ "

"Yeah." Cas said with a small shrug. "It just seemed to fit him."

Sam shook his head and laughed as he said, "Jesus Cas, don't fuel his obsession with Doctor Who. He already quotes that show to me on a daily basis."

Cas shot Dean a sidelong look and smirked as he said, "We should make great friends then."

Dean gave Cas a guilty smile as he asked, "Do you have everything?"

Cas nodded and said, "Yep! I'll help you carry the plates and crap into the kitchen though."

"Nah, it's cool. I got it Cas." Dean said, brushing the offer off.

"I'm serious. It will only take a minute and it mean's I can stall and stay a little longer." Cas told him as he brushed by Dean and walked back towards Dean's room.

"Thanks for helping out Cas." Dean said with a soft smile once they entered the dark room.

"Not a problem Dean." Cas said smiling over at him with those brilliant sparkling teeth. "I didn't wanna leave things mess."

"No, I don't mean just with this. I mean with everything; for watching out for me and taking care of me today." Dean explained. He wished he could tell Cas how grateful he was for everything he had done, but Dean was sure that he'd never be able to find the right words.

Cas stopped and stood, looking at Dean with a sneaky little smile on his lips. After a second Cas whispered, "I know, and you're welcome."

The two of them soon emerged from the room and took their dishes into the kitchen. When they were finished they both knew that Cas had to leave. Balthazar and Gabriel could only be so patient before they just ended up leaving Cas here. (Not that Dean would necessarily take that as a bad thing)

"Night Sam!" Cas called as Dean and Cas walked past the living room where Sam was currently watching a rerun of Criminal Minds.

"Later Cas!" Sam called back, "And hey, don't forget to study for that psych test on Monday."

"Damn, I forget about that..." Cas grumbled, "Fucking Missouri kills me sometimes. Thanks Sam."

"No problem, see ya!" Sam answered, going back to watching his show again.

Dean walked Cas to the door. He wanted nothing more than to lean in and kiss the boy, but he wasn't exactly sure that it would be appropriate at the moment. Dean figured if he was going to fuck up their friendship he might as well make it last as long as possible before he stole a kiss that could ruin everything between them.

"Thanks for hanging around Cas." Dean said gratefully.

"Anytime Dean. I enjoyed it, though maybe we can hang out under different circumstances next time." Cas said with a soft smile.

Dean chuckled bitterly and said, "Yeah, that would be nice wouldn't it. Maybe next time we can actually get to practice with the band."

Cas smirked and feigned sadness as he said, "Awe I have to share you?"

Dean snorted and tried not to blush as he said, "Not if you don't want to."

"Good. I think I'm gonna be very selfish with you. You're mine, the rest of the band is gonna have to fight for time with you."

Dean rolled his eyes just as a car horn outside called impatiently for Cas.

"Well, sounds like I'm about to be abandoned by my bandmates, so uh... see ya tomorrow maybe?" Cas asked with a cute crooked little smile on his lips.

Dean smiled back as he said, "You have my number. Just tell me when and where and I'll be there."

"What? Is my name River Song now?" Cas snorted.

Dean's face flushed red, because he knew River had been the doctor's wife. He stuttered and stammered, at a total loss for words.

Cas just laughed and said, "You know, cause the Doctor always came when she called him."

Dean nodded and said, "Ah, yes. That's right. You can be River if you want." He had finally composed himself enough for an intelligible answer.

 _'Good Job Dean. You took something that meant you would always be there as Cas saying he wanted to be more than friends. Good job, good fucking job.'_ Dean thought bitterly to himself. Leave it to him to misinterpret Castiel's words.

"Right, well I'll get outta your hair now." Cas said, reaching out and pulling Dean into a hug.

Dean's heart raced as he found his body pressed up against Castiel's and his nose buried in the boys super soft blue and black hair.

Hesitantly Dean wrapped his arms around Cas and hugged him back, losing himself in the intoxicating sent of Castiel's hair. To Dean, he seemed to smell of fresh rainwater, something sweet, kinda like the smell of honey, and a subtle but good smelling scent of axe. It was utterly perfect in Dean's mind. Cas smelled like everything Dean had ever wanted.

Their hug seemed to end way too quickly. Dean didn't wanna let go of the perfect, slightly shorter boy in his arms and it didn't seem like Cas wanted to let go either, but another short blast of a car horn was enough to break them apart.

"Are you gonna keep them waiting all night?" Came Sam's voice from the living room. "Save your fanboy conversations for another time."

"Aw shut up Sam!" Cas called with a smirk on his now slightly flushed face as he and Dean disentangled their arms from one another.

"Good Night Dean." Cas breathed quietly as his expression softened and caring.

Dean gazed into those eyes that could hold the universe inside them as whispered back, "Night Cas."

With that, Cas gave him one more soft smile before opening the door and walking outside into the darkening evening.

Dean watched him go for a minute, waving to an impatient looking Gabriel and Balthazar sitting in the driveway before finally turning and shutting the door behind him.

The rest of the night started out peacefully for Dean. He and Sam just relaxed in the living room, munching on leftover pizza and watching TV show reruns. They casually discussed their evenings and questioned each other about how things had gone.

Sam had learned that he and Gabriel had a lot more in common than he had initially thought. His brother informed him that the two of them were best friend material. Balthazar had apparently been snarky and annoying at first but he had soon grown on Sam and the two of them also eventually found things in common with one another.

However, according to Sam, neither boy was fond of the fact that Sam woke up at the ass crack of dawn just about every fucking day. Dean had earned a pretty impressive bitch face when he informed Sam that only douche bags got up that early and woke everyone else up in the process.  

When Sam began questioning him about what he and Cas had done all day, Dean had purposefully given Sam as little information as possible. He didn't really want his brother questioning him on if he  _'got anywhere with Cas'_ , but of course that question came up anyways.

"So, did you make a move on Cas?" Sam asked curiously.

Dean shook his head and busied himself with a string on his pajama pants. "No, I mean, I just met him and like I said the other day, I don't think he swings that way."

"You know Dean. Sometimes you seem so blind to the obvious. Cas likes you okay. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at you." Sam explained.

"You're one to talk. You were only around us for like five minutes."

"Yeah and that's all the time I needed to see it." Sam declared. "He literally gravitates towards you. It's clear that he doesn't have any personal space boundaries in your presence."

"So?" Dean grumbled as his faced flushed red. "He could do that to everyone."

Sam shook his head and said, "No Dean. He doesn't. I've known Cas for a while now and he's never been like that around anyone else. How else can you explain that?"

Dean was silent. He literally had no answer for his brother. So he just said, "Shut up.", which only made Sam smirk in triumph since he knew he had won the argument.

After a strangely long silence between them that atmosphere seemed to grow tense. Dean knew that Sam was literally dying to ask something but was holding back. The tension soon began to drive Dean insane so he glared at his brother and demanded, "What Sam? What is it?"

Sam looked at him with wide confused eyes as he asked, "What is what?"

"Aw come on man, don't give me that bull shit. I know how you are when something is nagging at you. What is it that you wanna ask me?" Dean said in irritation.

"I don't know what your-"

Dean interrupted Sam's sentence by saying, "Don't play that game with me, I know it’s something. Just spit it out."

Sam’s eyes dropped and there was another, shorter silence in the room before Sam finally mustered up the courage to ask, "Dean... why are you covered in bruises?"

Dean's heart sunk. During the excitement of the day Dean had totally forgotten about his injuries. He had taken some pain medicine not long ago which helped the pain shrivel down into minor an annoyance in the back of his mind. Dean had completely forgotten that he would have at least a few markings to go along with his injuries. To be completely honest he had managed to avoid looking into a mirror at all so he wouldn't have to see himself.

"And don't try to lie to me Dean." Sam added before Dean could say anything.

Dean weighed the odds of lying to Sam. He was pretty sure that his brother would be able to tell almost immediately if he was lying or not. Dean was simply too tired to form a proper lie and Sam wouldn't let him go to sleep unless he was sure that he was hearing the truth. With a resigned sigh, Dean told his brother that he had run into a few guys who didn't like him and Cas had stepped in and stopped them. It was the truth, but he literally gave Sam as few detail as possible.

Sam's face had been filled with concern and he had tried to question Dean further on the matter but Dean had simply told Sam that Cas had dealt with the problem already. Then Dean hurriedly excused himself to his bedroom to escape. Dean was just too tried to deal with his brother and his pressing questions. Once he had escaped to his room for the night, Dean grabbed some clothes and slipped into the bathroom for a quick shower.

Unable to resist Dean looked at himself in the mirror and saw a few bruises on his face and neck. His bottom lip also split and appeared to be slightly swollen. As Dean stripped off his clothes he was sure to examine his other injuries and bruises that had been hidden underneath the fabric. Beneath the clothes was a whole different story. Dean was scratched, scraped and bruised from head to toe. Most of the injuries were new, but there were a few here and there that were from past ass beatings.

Finally he forced himself to walk away from the mirror and finish getting ready for bed.  Then with a sleepy yawn Dean proceeded to tuck himself into his warm, soft, empty feeling bed.

Dean already missed the feeling of having Cas sleeping beside him in bed. His bed felt bigger and colder than normal without Cas. To substitute the feeling, Dean built a wall of pillows around his body and buried his face into the pillow that Cas had slept with the previous night. It still had his beautiful scent all over it. Dean wanted to treasure the pillow and guard it for all he was worth. He couldn’t help it, Cas just smelled so damn good.

With his head swimming with memories and thoughts of seeing Cas tomorrow, Dean finally was able to fall into a deep, calming sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Song: Can't Fight this Feeling- REO Speedwagon


	5. I Kissed a Boy (and Liked it)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *A/N Heyyy Y'all I know its been a while since I updated and I apologized. I had writers block and school has started for me. I was just gonna make this a short little chapter at first so I could give you guys something on the updating front... but that didn't really happen. So this is really long (like normal because I tend to get carried away with my writing) but I hope it is worth it! BTW I've also changed the names of all the chapters in this story. From here on out all the chapter titles will be song names since this is a fic involved music and rock bands after all XD So don't get be confused about the other chapters. They are the same as they were, just called something different now. Anyways! Carry on my wayward readers, there'll be peace when you are done. (dON'T WORRY THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER)*

When Dean woke up the next morning it was really late, well for him anyways. When he looked at his clock Dean managed to decipher that his clock said that the time was 11:30.

Dean groaned angrily and stared at the ceiling. He hated sleeping in late like this, but he figured that he probably needed the sleep. His body was still sore and achy from Friday, but it certainly felt much better than it had yesterday.

When Dean stood up and glanced at his phone he saw that there were three text messages and a missed phone call.

Sleepily, Dean fumbled his hand clumsily across the end table to find his glasses. He knew they were there somewhere, but he just needed to find them. Without his glasses on Dean knew there was no way in hell that he was gonna read any kind of text message on that fucking phone screen.  _'I'm blinder than a damn bat...'_ Dean thought to himself grumpily.  _'Guess I can be batman then... or maybe daredevil since I can't see shit right now...'_ Dean snorted at his own blind joke as his fingers finally closed around the thick dark frames of his glasses.  _'Then again... those guys are way cooler than I am...'_

Once Dean settled his glasses on his nose, he looked down and saw that the missed call was from his brother. Stiffly, Dean stretched and wondered why the hell Sam was even calling him in the first place. Maybe he had gone somewhere without telling him.

Dean sighed softly and quickly called his brother back. Fortunately for him he didn’t have to wait long since Sam picked up on the second ring. By the end of the conversation Dean had learned that Sam and gone to the mall to hang out with some of his friends for a little while. He told Dean he wouldn't be out too late and he promised to be careful. Dean trusted his brother; he usually made pretty smart decisions and could take care of himself well enough on his own.

When Dean got off the phone he saw that one of the messages had been from Sam, telling him where he was at. The other two messages made his heart race just a little as he opened them.

They were both from Cas.

When Dean looked at the time they had been send his heart fell just a little. Cas had sent him these at nine thirty. That was a while ago. He hoped that Cas didn’t think he was ignoring his texts.

As soon as his messages loaded, Dean's hungry eyes quickly began to read.

_'Hey Dean! What's up? Idk if ur awake yet but we should chill today. Gabe and Balthazar r out getting band crap so they won't be back until probably three thirty or four. If ur feeling up to it u should come over and I can show u the set up we've got going over here.'_

Dean heart was pounding in his chest as he moved onto the second message. It was sent about twenty minutes after the first one and said,  _'Just text me back whenever u wake up. No rush though, we've got plenty of time'_

Hurriedly, Dean's sleepy fingers typed back,  _'Hey! Sorry, I just got up. Long night. :/ but if u still want me to come over I can be ready in like 15 mins.'_

Dean rushed into the bathroom and started up the shower to let the water get warm as he waited for Castiel's response.

Fortunately, Castiel’s response came much faster than Dean had anticipated. He had been reaching under the sink to fetch a towel when he heard his phone buzz on the counter. In his rush to check his phone, Dean accidentally knocked his head against the counter.

"Fuck!" He hissed as he clutched his head for a second. "I swear I am the clumsiest mother fucker ever!" Dean said out loud to himself.

Once the pain went away, Dean snatched up his phone and quickly opened the message.

The room was beginning to get steamy and it started to fog up his glasses as Dean read the text.  _'Alright great! Do u need me to come pick u up or will u just drive over here?'_

Dean smiled and typed back,  _'Don't worry. I've got Baby. I'll drive to u. Just send me ur address so I know where to go.'_

Once Dean pressed send he quickly set his glasses aside and got undressed before he rushed into the hot shower and quickly washed himself up.

By the time he had gotten out of the shower and put his foggy glasses back on five minutes later he saw that Cas had already send him the address that he needed and send a smiley face along with it.

Dean wrapped his towel around his waist and rushed into his bedroom. Quickly he pulled on a fresh pair of boxers and opened up his closet door. Inside, he was met with a mess of decisions.

"Fucking hell..." Dean said aloud. He took a deep breath and began to dig through his clothes.

 _'Alright, I need something nice, but not to formal or nerdy. This isn't a date Dean. Remember we're just hanging out.'_ He thought to himself as he grabbed a pair of blue jeans. Pants were easy; it was the shirt that mattered. Dean supposed he could wear one of the band tees that Sam had bought him, but he was pretty sure that they were both dirty.

Suddenly, an idea stuck him and he rushed to his little brother's room.

Upon opening the door to Sam's room, Dean was met with the strong smell of Sam's shoes and dirty clothing strewn everywhere. Sam's room was nothing short of an utter train wreck. Dean carefully tried to navigate his way over to Sam's closet in hopes of finding a shirt to wear. Yeah Sam was already taller than him (which wasn’t fair even though they were only a year apart), but their chests were about the same size. As long as he found a short sleeve shirt instead of a long sleeved one, Dean figured he'd be okay. Well, if any of Sam's shirts were even clean. Judging by how much clothing was on the floor Dean wasn't so sure if he had any clean clothes left.

"I am gonna kill that kid." Dean grumbled out loud as he heard a wooden pencil, hidden from sight, snap underneath his foot. By the end of tonight, Dean was gonna make Sam clean up this fucking room. By the looks of it, Sam's room was on the verge of being a science experiment about to spout legs and walk away.

Dean eventually made it to Sam's closet door without facing any personal casualties along the way. Upon opening the door, Dean was faced with a whole new problem.

Sam's floor was covered in more clothes, school books, regular books and Dean was pretty sure that he even spotted a few different skin mags in the very back of the closet.

Trying to ignore the mess, Dean searched through the few articles of clothes that were still hanging up on Sam's hangers. He had been right to think that 90% of Sam's clothing was strewn across the floor.

Dean warily dared to pick up a shirt from the floor in front of him. It turned out to be a Green Day shirt and Dean was hopeful because it looked like it would fit him pretty well. However, the second that Dean brought it to his face to smell it, he dropped it back on the floor with a look of utter disgust. He had never smelled anything so horrific in his entire life.

With a groan of displeasure Dean glanced at Sam's hung clothing one last time and finally settled on a blue flannel. With a careful sniff Dean concluded that it was clean and washed. He wasn't danger of being knocked out by the horrific smell of Sam's BO this time.

Hurriedly, Dean navigated his way out of Sam's room and back into the safety of his own _clean_ room. Dean stepped into his own closet once more and tugged a plain black shirt free from its hanger.

It wasn't his outfit of choice but it was certainly the best he could hope for at this point. Dean was beginning to realize that he might need to go clothes shopping sooner rather than later.

As an afterthought, Dean grabbed a dark brown leather jacket off its hanger. Dean didn’t wear it much, but it was his favorite jacket in the entire world. His father had given it to for his 16th birthday with the Impala. As he threw the jacket on Dean reached up and felt for the necklace that was tucked under his shirt. He smiled softly when he felt the outline of the heavy gold necklace around his neck. The necklace had been a Christmas gift from Sam a few years ago.

Once Dean was completely dressed and mostly happy with how he looked, he rushed back into the bathroom to fix up his hair and brush his teeth. He considered throwing in a pair of contacts just for today, but he decided against it. Dean still needed to save the remaining pairs until it was really important and besides, he was in too much of a hurry to care at this point.

Then he rushed back into his room and snatched his phone off the bed along with the keys to the Impala.

As he ran to the front door Dean shot a quick text to Sam telling him where he was gonna be and a message telling Cas that he was about to leave.

When Dean had looked up the address he had honestly been a little surprised by just how close the two of them lived to each other. They were honestly only about fifteen minutes away from each other if you drove the speed limit. Ten minutes if you drove like Dean did.

Dean cranked up the radio, and rolled down the windows, passing cars by with ease as he tapped his fingers along to Ride the Lightning.

Dean was still lost in the song when he reached Castiel's house only a few minutes later. Part of him wanted to stay and finish listening to the end of the song, but his longing to see Cas got the best of him.

He should have known better than to pick a seven minute song for a drive that he could make in less than that.

Dean quickly rolled up the windows and turned off the Impala's engine silencing her and the heavy guitar solo that had been underway in the song.

When Dean got out of the car and started heading up the driveway he was surprised to see Cas already waiting for him.

His face broke out into a huge smile when he looked at Dean. Dean felt warmth floor though his body and couldn't help but smile himself. It was just too hard not to smile at him.

"I heard you driving down the road." Cas said with a laugh as he nodded towards the parked Impala. "Your music choices still surprise me. I would have never pegged you for a metal head."

Dean's cheeks flushed slightly as he said, "Yeah... well not many people do guess that."

Judging by the heat in his cheeks already, Dean was sure that this was gonna be a long day. He just knew he would be blushing his was though everything that he or Cas said.

"You hungry? Want something to drink maybe?” Cas asked curiously as he lead Dean into the huge house. "Café de la Castiel is now open for business."

Dean couldn't help but laugh at Cas and shake his head incredulously. How was Cas always this bubbly?

"Umm something to drink suppose." Dean finally said with a shy smile.

"Alright. Follow me then!" Cas said with a slight wink.

Dean blushed again and followed Cas as he walked into a massive kitchen.

"Holy shit this kitchen is huge!" Dean exclaimed with wide eyes. He had all but forgotten about the wink that Cas had just given him.

"I know right!" Cas said eagerly. "It's actually almost a little too much kitchen to control. It gets messy pretty easily, especially when Gabriel’s in here trying to make something. He’s actually the one who uses the kitchen the most."

Dean laughed softly as he let his eyes scan across every inch of the massive kitchen. There was a huge table at one end of the room, which Dean assumed acted as a dining room as well. The counter tops were made of dark black granite and gleamed beautifully against the dark reddish brown cabinets beneath it. The walls were a deep grey color that just seemed to fit the atmosphere and making everything just flow together. The room seemed absolutely perfect.

"Do you wanna beer?" Cas suddenly asked as Dean absorbed the size of the room around him.

"Hmm?" Dean hummed curiously as he pushed his glasses up his noise since they had slipped down his face. Dean turned to look at Cas and found that while he hadn't been looking, Cas had made his way over to the large stainless steel fridge and was now holding a beer out towards him.

Dean glanced at the drink and shook his head saying, "Nah, thanks though. I don't drink. Besides, I'm underage."

A smile tugged at the corners of Castiel's mouth as he said, "Not a rule breaker huh? How about a coke then?"

"Yeah sure. That works." Dean said as he blushed and looked at the floor. He was a goody two shoes and he knew it, but he had no desire to ever start drinking. He was too worried that it would make him turn out like his dad, a careless drunk.

When Cas handed Dean his coke, Dean saw that Cas also had a coke in his hands. "Cas, you don't have to drink soda just because I am. If you wanna beer just go for it."

Cas shook his head and opened his soda. "Nah, been there, done that. I don't like how it tastes."

Dean flushed red and said, "Oh... I knew that."

"Sure you did." Cas said with a wink as he took a swig from his soda and walked back over to the fridge.

Dean hated it when Cas winked at him. Well, it wasn't so much that he hated it, Dean actually loved it, but so did something in his pants. Whenever Cas winked at him, Little Dean started to do a happy dance and that was totally the opposite of what he needed. It made the whole _‘just friends’_ approach that much more difficult for him.

While he was in this mind set, Dean couldn't help but keep his eye locked on Castiel's perfect ass as his back was too him. Dean only prayed that Cas wasn't about to turn around and catch him in the act. In the past, Dean had of course admired Castiel's ass, but it was never from this close nor were they ever in a room alone when it happened. Part of him wondered if his ass felt just as firm as it looked. Dean just wanted to reach out and-

"So… Pie. You like pie, I remember that from yesterday." Cas said breaking Dean from his thoughts as he pulled a round pan out of the fridge.

Instantly, Dean's eyes snapped up to Castiel's face and he felt his cheeks flush red. He was almost certain that he had been caught. However, instead of accusing him, Cas seemed not to have even noticed. He let out an internal sigh of relief when Cas smiled and lifted the pie tin in his hands. Slowly, Dean's eyes shifted from Castiel's and locked onto the pan in his hand. Dean's mouth began to water and all thoughts of his momentary embarrassment had been erased from his mind.

"Now, I didn't make this pie. Gabriel made it last night at like three in the morning. Don't ask why. He does shit like that all the time. He wouldn't care if it was three am or three pm Gabriel would still get up and make something just because he wants something to eat." Cas explained as he set the pie tin down on the counter beside Dean.

"I don't care who made it." Dean said happily as he pushed his glasses up his noise. "Pie is pie. I'm not prejudice against any flavor of pie."

"Have you ever eaten a bad pie?" Cas asked curiously as he grabbed two forks from a drawer.

"Nope! Well... I take that back... I had this really bad lemon meringue pie once. The chick had never made it before and she went way over board with the lemon. I nearly puked, it was pretty traumatic." Dean told Cas with a soft laugh.

Cas smirked and said, "Sounds like it was. I bet you needed years of therapy to get over the pie abuse."

Dean snorted with laughter and nearly fell over laughing as tears cascaded down his face. "Oh yeah, that totally ruined my life."

"Well lucky for you, Gabriel hates lemon meringue pie so he made a chocolate pie." Cas told Dean as he handed him a fork.

"Hey, chocolate pie is as good as any!" Dean said cheerily as he took the fork from Cas.

Dean was a little surprised when Cas took his own fork and dug it straight into the pie tin without even getting a plate. However, Dean wasn't one to judge so he followed by example and scooped up a forkful of pie too.

"Cheers!" Cas said happily as he lifted the fork to his mouth took a bite.

In the midst of this, Dean wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to try the pie, or watch Cas eat his own pie. Somehow, the fork found its way to Dean's mouth while his eyes stayed locked onto Castiel's face.

Dean let out a small moan of pleasure as he chewed the pie in his mouth. He had to admit, Gabriel could make a pretty good chocolate pie. Yet, the flavor of the pie seemed to be only a background taste. He almost didn't notice the flavor due to the intensity of the staring currently taking place between him and Cas.

Cas smirked and looked like he wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut and scooped up another bite of pie.

Cas was on his third bite of pie just as he himself got to his second. Pie was the one thing Dean savored, like  _really_ savored. He loved a good burger too, but pie was just something that couldn't be beat.

In an attempt to forget the happy expression on Castiel’s face, Dean closed his eyes and let the flavors explode across his tongue, chewing slowly and sighing at the glorious taste. All of a sudden, a borderline pornographic moan filled the room. Dean's eyes snapped open, and what he saw nearly made him choke on the pie he was eating.

Castiel's face was slightly flushed as he slowly chewed his food. However, instead of having his eyes shut, Castiel's brilliant blue eyes were open and staring directly at him while his eyes glinted mischievously.

A small smirk played on Castiel's face as Dean felt himself immediately getting hard in his pants. Dean prayed to God that Cas wouldn't notice. He would die of embarrassment if that happened.

Slowly, almost too slowly actually, Cas lifted a new bit of pie to his mouth and just held it there in front of those glorious lips. Dean held his breath in anticipation as he looked Cas dead in the eyes. Those blue eyes glinted with evil intent Cas let his pink tongue run across his pale plump lips.

Dean let his eyes follow that tongue, his face heating up in shock and arousal simultaneously. He almost lost it when Cas slipped his tongue out from between his lips and ran it across the forkful of pie. Why did Cas have to tease him like this. What the hell was he even doing?

 _'Is this flirting? Is Cas flirting with me?'_ Dean asked himself in a panic. No one had ever even attempted to flirt with him before. Girls hardly ever gave him the time of day, usually tried to avoid him at all costs (not that he asked for their attention anyways). And guys just viewed him as a target or a punching bag most of the time.  So Dean was literally running off of no flirting experience at all. He wished he could text Charlie to ask her about it. She would probably have some pretty good advice on how to flirt, but it was already too late for that. This was happening here and now.

Dean’s heart was on the verge of stopping as Cas finally stuck the fork into his mouth. When he pulled the fork out, Cas let it make a dirty sounding popping noise that almost made Dean moan.

As Cas chewed, his eyes never left Dean's. Dean's own fork had been long forgotten. He just hoped that his mouth wasn't hanging opened from shock and desire. The only thing that Dean was sure of was the fact that he was now half hard in his pants. There was no way that he couldn’t notice it. His dick was literally begging for attention.

"Something wrong Winchester?" Cas asked in a gruff voice as his eyebrows arched in amusement. Dean could almost swear that Cas was daring him to do something,  _anything._

“N-No… nothings wrong…” Dean stammered as everything intelligible flew out of his mind. He was literally just a blushing confused mess.

“Okaayy… then.” Cas said slowly with a slight tilt of his head. After a few second of silence Cas broke the tense moment between them by asking, “Hey… uhh do you think you could do something for me?”

Dean quickly cleared his throat and attempted to slow his racing pulse as he shifted to try and hide the obvious boner in his pants. “I- uh yeah… sure what do you need?”

In his mind, Dean was thinking, _‘Please say me. Please say that you need me to like kiss you or something.’_

However, instead of professing his love for him, Cas asked, “Do- do you think you could like… I don’t know… sing something for me?”

Dean stood still; he hated singing in front of others. Like it wasn’t so bad if he thought he was alone or if he was in a crowd of people because no one could really hear him, but singing in a quiet room… that was totally different.

“I mean, like I know you are a good singer! A great singer actually!  But I dunno… I just was hoping I could get an actual demo like up close.” Cas explained as he chewed on his lip piercing slowly. “Like I totally get it if you say no… I’m not trying to force you into it or anything…”

Castiel’s eyebrows scrunched as he spoke. He was clearly trying to hide how much this meant to him, without trying to make him feel pressured into it.

Dean watched Castiel’s metal lip ring glint softly in light as he thought about the request. As much as he wanted to say _no_ Dean knew that he wouldn’t be able to deny Cas this request.

“Dean?” Cas said slowly.

Dean realized that he must have been silence for a little bit too long because now there was concern etched into that perfect face.

“What do you want me to sing?” Dean asked carefully, his breath coming in short and shaky.

The smile that lit up Castiel’s face was enough to tell Dean that he had made the right decision. It was like the sun had come out from behind clouds that he hadn’t known where there in the first place. A rainbow of joy seemed to flow out of Cas as he said, “Anything! Anything at all! Whatever you want!”

Dean took a deep breath of air and thought of a song. After a minute he quietly said, “O-okay… I think I’ve got something.”

Cas smiled gentle and encouraged him to continue by saying, “Just start whenever you’re ready okay?”

Dean nodded and closed his eyes. If he was going to do this, he couldn’t be looking at Cas. He had to _believe_ that he was absolutely alone. Dean had to pretend like Cas wasn’t there.  He knew that was the key to his success. This was his moment to prove to Cas that this band was right for him and that he really belonged in The Fallen Angels. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and the blood draining from his face, making him feel a little light headed.

When he finally managed to slow his beating heart bit he took a long intake of air. Then, keeping his eyes closed and trying his best to ignore the boy he knew was standing in front of him, Dean softly starting into his song of choice.

‘ _Mama told me when I was young…_  
"Come sit beside me, my only son  
And listen closely to what I say  
And if you do this it'll help you some sunny day"

 _"Oh, take your time, don't live too fast_  
Troubles will come and they will pass  
You'll find a woman and you'll find love  
And don't forget, son, there is someone up above"

 _"And be a simple kind of man_  
Oh, be something you love and understand  
Baby be a simple kind of man  
Oh, won't you do this for me, son, if you can"

Dean’s heart was still racing and his mind had turned to mush. The only thing he could remember were the lyrics to this one song. Everything else in his mind was forgotten. In his panic he desperately clutched onto the lyrics and nothing else. Dean had always loved the soft simplicity of this song and it normally helped him calm down when he was stressed. Dean supposed that’s the reason why he picked it. After a while, Dean really did start to believe that he was alone. He could feel a gentle smile pulling at the corners of his lips and he even began to get more into the song. Instead of whispering out the lyrics shyly, he began to get louder and louder until he was singing at his full potential.

 _"Forget your lust for the rich man's gold_  
All that you need is in your soul  
And you can do this, oh baby, if you try  
All that I want for you, my son, is to be satisfied"

 _"And be a simple kind of man_  
Oh, be something you love and understand  
Baby be a simple kind of man  
Oh, won't you do this for me, son, if you can"

_Oh yes, I will_

_"Boy, don't you worry, you'll find yourself_  
Follow your heart and nothing else  
And you can do this, oh baby, if you try  
All that I want for you, my son, is to be satisfied"

As he reached the end of the song he slowed down and dragged the lyrics out just a little longer than normal. He was shocked that he had even remembered all of the words. Dean had almost forgotten why he was doing this.

 _"And be a simple kind of man_  
Oh, be something you love and understand  
Baby be a simple kind of man  
Oh, won't you do this for me, son, if you can"

When he began the closing lines he actually opened his eyes and looked at Castiel. What he saw was Cas standing in front of him with an awestruck look on his face. His jaw was hanging slack and his eyes were wide and glassy. Dean hoped that was a good sign and not a sign that he had killed his friend’s ear drums.

_Baby, be a simple, really simple man  
Oh, be something you love and understand_

When he stopped singing Dean blushed and looked at the floor. He couldn’t believe what he had just done. Dean never did that for anybody.

When Cas remained completely silence Dean couldn’t help but look up to see the expression on the other boy’s face.

What happened next took Dean completely by surprise.

Before Dean could register what was happening Castiel stepped towards him and closed the gap between their bodies. His hands lifted and snagged the edges of his plaid collared shirt and pulling it tight. Possessively, Cas tangled his fingers in the fabric and used his grip to drag Dean impossibly.

Dean tripped clumsily over his own feet and nearly lost his balance as he was dragged forward. In a state of shock Dean tried to regain his balance as his chest crashed into Castiel's. Suddenly, his mind just went completely blanked as a warm set of lips tilted up and captured his own. In his surprise, Dean completely forgot that he should probably try kissing Cas back. In the meantime, Castiel's lips moved deftly across Dean's trying to invoke some sort of response out of him.

 _'This is my first kiss.’_ Was the first actual thought that managed to coherently skitter though Dean’s mind. Before he knew it, his mind jumped from zero to a hundred as he realized the true weight of the current situation. ‘ _HOLYSHITCASTIELNOVAKISMYFIRSTKISS'_ Dean's thoughts were screaming at him. This is what he had always dreamed of happening in some way and now it was finally happening. Dean’s hands were moving about in confusion as Cas continued to kissed him. By now, Dean had grasped that he was supposed to move his lips, but he was sure that he was doing a terrible job. Castiel's hands were still curled into Dean's shirt tightly and keeping him held close.

 _Where should I put my hands?’_ Dean suddenly began to ask himself, “ _On his waist? Do they just hang by my sides? What do I do?'_ Dean was completely lost _‘You probably look like a huge fucking dork you clueless dumbass’_ Dean though angrily to himself while his dick twitched happily in his pants.

As he squirmed, Dean could feel his glasses sliding down the bridge of his noise. He knew he should have taken than extra few minutes to put a set of contacts in today. He was an idiot in so many ways. Kissing was turning out to be more complicated that he had initially anticipated it would be. He could feel the little metal lip ring pressing into his lip, the cool metal slowly collecting heat as their mouths stayed locked together.

Before Dean knew it, Castiel was pulling away from him. The expression on his face was one that was mixed with hurt and sorrow all in one. It was clear that there was an apology literally etched into Castiel’s perfect features. Dean wondered if it was because he was a bad kisser or something. Maybe Cas hated people who were bad kissers.

Dean’s anxiety started to kick in as Cas just stood there and stared at him wordlessly. After a minute Cas finally cleared his throat and said, "Dean I- I shouldn't have done that... I- I'm sorry I should have asked you… Your voice is just so… that song was beautiful. I- I’m sorry." Castiel's lips were slick and shining, slightly swollen as he stammered out a broken apology.

Dean gazed into those big blue puppy dog eyes as he pressed on the bridge of his glasses to put them back in place. There was a short strained silence between them before Dean finally said, "W-why are you... why are you apologizing Cas?"

Castiel's face clouded over into one of confusion as he said, "I- you didn't really kiss back too much so… I figured that you... you didn't want-"

Cas fumbled for words, honestly seeming even more embarrassed than Dean himself was at this point. Suddenly, Dean got an idea. It was a stupid, dumb, ridiculous idea that required a snap second decision. He knew how he could fix this; Dean just had to act upon his idea fast. Hurriedly, Dean lifted his numb hands up and cupped the side of Castiel's face. He longingly dragged Castiel’s mouth back to his own which effectively silenced the long jumble of words that were still falling from his lips.

Dean's lips moved clumsily against Castiel's as he tried to understand how to affectively kiss another person. It wasn’t quite as easy as they made it seem in the movies.  It was now Castiel's turn to be shocked into stillness as Dean pressed against the other boy’s lips. However, unlike Dean, Castiel shook off the surprise much faster. Eagerly, Cas started to kiss him back and run his tongue along Dean's lips.

Castiel's hands soon found their way to Dean's hips as he used them to pull their bodies even close. Dean swore that he could feel sparks exploding between them as they melded into one and lost themselves in each other. Dean tried not to hyperventilate as Castiel's hands moved from his hips and slipped into the back of his jean pockets. He could feel Cas squeeze his ass lightly and Dean literally moaned into the other boys mouth. They were grinding against each other so hard that there was literally no space between their bodies.

When Dean finally had to pull back for air, Cas still kept his hands in Dean's back pockets. Castiel's eyes were blown and glassy as he looked into Dean's eyes. Their heights were so close that they stood practically nose to nose. His glasses were now near the end of his nose but he really didn't wanna let go of Cas long enough to fix them.

"So, I'm guessing you did want that then?" Cas asked breathlessly with a small smirk playing across his lips.

"Just a little bit." Dean breathed back as he moved his hands onto Castiel’s broad, firm shoulders.

Cas began to chuckle softly as he held Dean close.

"What?" Dean asked with curiosity.

Still laughing, Cas said, "Damn, you must be a weeping angel Dean because I can't take my eyes off of you."

Dean's face flushed a deep shade of red as he asked, "Are we using Doctor Who pickup lines now, because if so, the first time I saw you I nearly regenerated cause you made both of my hearts stop."

Dean wasn't sure where the boost of confidence was coming from but Dean just went for it. Normally he would have never even dreamed of saying something like that out loud, but Cas just made him feel… free.

Cas arched his eyebrows in amusement, a challenge glimmering in his eyes. "Oh yeah? Well how about this, on a scale of William Hartnell to David Tennant, you're a Peter Capaldi."

Dean felt his face flush even darker as he forced himself to break eye contact with Cas. Now it was time to pull out all the stops. Dean could slowly feel his confidence slipping away as he realized how stupid he probably was about to sound, but he needed to get out one more pick up line before he totally lost his shit.

Quickly, Dean made glanced up at Cas one more time as he said, "Yeah, well since I'm the Doctor why don't you be the TARDIS so I can call you sexy at every point in time and space."

The moment that Dean finished talking he totally lost his nerve. He had never blushed so hard in his life and he couldn't bring himself to even look at Cas anymore.

He squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face into Castiel's shirt to hid his eyes.

Cas was silent for a few minutes before he burst into a huge bout of laughter. "W-where did you get that one from?" Cas asked around his laughs.

Dean shrugged lightly and whispered, "Tumblr."

"T-that was awesome!" Cas snorted, "I give up. You win."

After a few seconds Cas brushed his lips against Dean's ear and asked, "Wanna go sit in the living room or something?"

Dean quickly agreed and helped Cas clean up their forgotten pie mess before they traipsed into Castiel's huge ass living room.

Once they were both sitting down, Cas on one side of a small loveseat, while Dean was squished all the way against the other side. He didn't wanna make Cas uncomfortable so he gave the boy his space.

Dean's mind was still racing and his heart was aflutter as he tried to understand what had just happened in Castiel's kitchen.

“Dude, you voice is… damn… you can fucking sing.” Cas praised him as he tried to get comfortable on the little sofa.

Dean flushed and said, “T-thanks Cas… That means a lot.”

“I am so fucking glad you’re in the band!” Cas carried on eagerly. “Not only are you smart and funny, but you’ve got the voice of an angel.”

Dean continued to blush, unsure of how he should answer. He hadn’t honestly even though he sung that good, but here he was listening to praise from his ultimate idol. The person who he longed to be like was sitting beside him and telling him how wonderful he was. Dean had to admit, this was one of the best feelings he had ever experienced in the entire world.

So, instead of answering, Dean simply looked at his hands and tried to slow his pulse. His mind was still racing form this kiss and all this praise was just piling up and adding to his shocked state. This was like a dream come true.

"Hey, uh… Dean... are you alright?" Cas asked in concern. Dean could feel Castiel's eye watching him intently.

"Y-yeah... I'm fine." Dean answered his voice a little gruffer than normal. He tried to steady his voice, but he already knew it was pointless.

"Are you sure? You've been acting weird since we... well made out in the kitchen." Cas pressed.

Dean felt his face flush again and just shrugged his shoulders and said, “Nah… I’m fine.”

Cas stayed silent and Dean could feel him staring at the side of his head. There was one question burning inside of Dean’s mind but he couldn’t think of the right way to phrase it. He knew that anyway he said it he would still end up sounding like a douche. However, before he could stop himself he finally blurted, "Didn't you date Meg?"

Dean risked glancing at Castiel's expression and he instantly regretted it. Castiel's face was a mixture of shock and confusion. Dean hopped Cas wasn't mad at him for bringing it up. He hadn't even meant to, it just happened before he could stop himself. That was so not how he wanted it to come out.

"Meg Masters? Yeah I did. We broke up though. Is that a problem?" Cas said after a few seconds of quiet though.

Dean shook his head and said, "No... it's not a problem, but didn't you also date Anna and April too?"

"Yeah...” Cas said slowly.  “What are you getting at Winchester?" Cas actually sounded defensive now which really worried Dean. He supposed that the faster he got to his point, the less painful this situation would be.

"Well... those are all chicks..." Dean said slowly as he looked up at Cas.

"Yeah... and?" Cas pressed. It was obvious understanding Dean’s point. Dean realized that he literally needed to spell it out for Cas.

"I- I thought you were straight." Dean said quietly as his face flushed red again.

Castiel’s expression relaxed as he began to smirk while he leaned across the sofa to get close to Dean's red face. Dean's heart seemed to skip a beat as Castiel's lips brushed across his cheek. From this distance, Dean could smell the beautiful scent of Cas washing over him. Dean could even smell a faint scent of blueberries in the air, which he figured was a lingering effect from Castiel dying his hair blue all the time. The smell was strangely pleasant and it just seemed to fit with the nerdy, tattooed, punk rock boy very well all things considered. Dean hadn't noticed how Cas had smelled earlier since he had been too busy trying not to faint from Cas kissing the hell out of him.

While Dean was lost in the thought, Cas moved his head and stole another quick kiss from Dean's that left his mouth numb and tingly as he awkwardly chased after those plump pink lips. Before Dean could recapture another kiss Cas whispered, "Well, by the looks of it, I bat for both teams."

"But... you've never been with a guy in the past have you?" Dean asked curiously.

Cas snickered and grabbed the collar of Dean's shirt. Dean had no choice but to follow as Cas laid back and pull him down with him. When Cas was finished moving, Dean found himself literally laying on top of Castiel. Cas's legs ran down the length of the sofa and were new spread apart just enough for Dean to lay comfortably between them while his head came to rest just below Castiel's face.

“There's always gotta be a first for everything right? Just because I haven't been with a guy before, doesn't mean I haven't hoped or thought about it. Besides, if you hadn't noticed, most people here aren't for the whole gay relationship thing so it’s a little difficult to find an interested guy." Cas explained to him as he wrapped his hands around Dean's back and moved his hand up and down, rubbing his back softly.

"Soo... you're Bi then?" Dean asked slowly. There were so many sexualities out there and he was hopping that he picked the right one to label Cas with.

"Yahtzee." Cas answered with a smirk before adding, "And you are..."

Dean's face flushed, he hopped it wouldn't come to this dreaded question, but since Cas had already kissed him there wasn't much else to say. "I-I'm just… gay..."

"Awe, hey, look Dean. Down here I know that's a tough set of cards to play, but don't be ashamed to say it. Be proud that you're gay and don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. Tell me again, but with more confidence this time." Cas told him as he moved one hand to run across the side of Dean's face.

"I'm... gay..." Dean said without looking at Cas this time.

Castiel kissed him again, pressing gently and lingering this time. This kiss felt more personal and had so much emotion contained within it. Dean lost himself in the feeling of having Castiel's mouth pressed against his own. It sent sparks up and down his entire body every time the touched. Whenever they kissed, a fire of lust and adoration flooded into Dean's stomach. He was gonna take full advantage of every kiss he could get today since Dean wasn't sure how long this would last.

"Tell me one more time. All together this time. No faltering." Cas told him as soon as they broke apart.

"Do I have to?" Dean whined. He honestly wasn't proud of being gay; he just couldn't make himself feel any other way.

"Please... for me?" Cas begged.

Dean sighed in defeat. How could he say no to someone with a face like his.

"Fine... I'm gay..." Dean mumbled all together now as he stared down at Castiel's chest. "Happy?"

Cas put one hand under Dean's chin and lifted his head. Dean looked into those brilliant blue eyes and was pleasantly surprised when Cas kissed him once again.

"Yes I’m very happy, but I think that’s just the effect you have on people." Cas murmured when the broke apart again. After a second of silence Cas added, "I've noticed that I've been much happier since I met you. Especially when you're here with me."

"Really?" Dean asked in wonderment.

"Yeah, Gabe and Balthazar are kinda on the verge of punching me since according to them I am apparently _'way to happy to be acceptable'_ " Cas said with a laugh.

"Well... I'm... I'm happier with you too." Dean whispered with a soft smile. "A lot happier."

Cas chucked and smiling happily up at Dean. "Hey, by the way, you an amazing kisser."

Dean's brow furrowed as he asked, "Really?" He was shock by the complement and really didn't see that one coming.

"Really, really. Like Damn, who knew the doctor was such an amazing kisser." Cas exclaimed as he started to grind his hips into Dean's. "That first kiss though, you honestly reminded me of the eleventh doctor when someone would kiss him."

Dean's face flushed darkly as he asked, "Was it really that bad?"

Cas shook his head and said, "No, it wasn't bad, you were just squirming a lot and it make me think of that, hell, I thought you didn't wanna kiss me actually. Remember?"

Dean nodded and bowed his head before whispering, "You know, you’re a great kisser too."

He didn’t want to tell Cas that had been his first kiss. Maybe Cas had a think against inexperienced kissers. He wasn’t really itching to find out, not while things seemed to be going good anyways.

Cas waggled his eyebrows seductively, his piercing glinting softly in the light as he asked, "Hey, so you wanna make out again? That was pretty fun."

Dean’s face instantly lit up in excitement at the suggestion. Hell yeah he wanted to make out with Cas again. He would do that any day.

"Fuck yeah!" Dean gasped eagerly, "Let me just take off my glasses this time. They get in the way."

Once they had removed Dean's glasses and set them aside, Cas pulled Dean back down and crashed their lips together again.

Dean was still really clumsy and unskilled with his kisses, (though Cas apparently liked them) but he was quickly picking up the tricks on what to do. When Cas ran his tongue along Dean's bottom lip, he parted his lips and Castiel's tongue quickly entered. The feeling was strange at first. He wasn't really used to having someone else tongue inside of his mouth, but it was far from unpleasant.

Dean could feel Castiel’s metal tongue piercing as his tongue explored his mouth. Dean wasn't really sure what to do with his own tongue so he gratefully let Cas take the lead. Their teeth clicked together hard as they heavily kissed. This feeling was defiantly something that he could get used to.

On a whim, Dean bit down lightly on Castiel's bottom lip and pulled a little. The moan that it elicited from Castiel's mouth was one of the most beautiful sounds Dean had ever heard in his entire life. He had no idea Cas could make such a perfect sound, but now he wanted to learn all the different noises that he could make.

Suddenly, Dean felt a hardness rubbing up against his thigh, very near his own crotch.

Cas had a boner. Dean had managed to give Cas a boner simply by kissing him. If Cas shifted to the right ever so slightly, their clothes cocks would be pressed against each other.

Dean felt very proud of his accomplishment, apparently Cas hadn’t been lying when he said that he was a good kisser.

Cas soon began to kiss trails down Dean's face until he was able to reach his neck. When Cas reached his pulse point, Cas sucked hard, making Dean cry out and press his face into his shirt. It felt good, it felt really good. Dean was pretty sure that he was gonna have a hickey left behind, but at the moment he could care less. All that he cared about was the fact that him and Cas were making out right here, right now.

As Dean gasped for air as Cas shifted his position making them both began to moan. Their clothes members slotted together as they both began to rut against each other. This felt better than anything he had ever experienced in his whole entire life. Dean was lost in the feeling of grinding against Cas as they kissed passionately. Dean wished it could last forever.

"You know, from the moment I first saw you I wanted you to be mine." Cas whispered in Dean's ear as he nibbled on it slightly. "That was a few years ago though. I was always too scared to talk to you."

Dean moaned and squirmed as he felt Cas buck up into him again. His mind was moving slow and sluggish so it took him a solid minute and a half to even register what Cas had just said. When Dean finally absorbed the true weight of Castiel's words, he broke their kiss and leaned back and stared down at him. Dean’s eyes were widened in shock as he asked, "Wh-what did you say?"

Dean was having a hard time seeing Castiel's face properly. It wasn't super blurry, but without his glasses on there was no way in hell that Dean was gonna get a clear image of Castiel's face. However, from what he could tell, there was a happy, totally blissed out look on Castiel's face as he said, "You know what I said Dean. Fuck... I remember that day perfectly." Cas moaned as he leaned up and softly bit the side of Dean's jaw. "First day of high school. You were late I believe, but when you all your adorable nerdy glory walked into our world geography class. I instantly fell for you.  You never even seemed to notice me though." Cas mused softly.

Dean's face flushed red as he mewled softly under Castiel's perfect hands while they roamed across his body. 'T-that's not t-true... Well… me being late was true, but not the part about me not noticing you." Dean stuttered. He knew exactly what day Cas was talking about. It was the first time that he had ever been late to school. Since he had been a freshmen Dean couldn’t drive to school yet. So, on the very first day of his freshmen year, Dean’s bus had broken down and everyone already on board had to wait for another bus to come. Dean had literally been the only person who was disappointed and upset about the situation. The school had given everyone an excused tardy, but still, that went on Dean’s record and it never failed to make him a little bit angry.

Castiel stilled and looked up at him his eyes wide with surprise. As Cas looked into his eyes Dean felt his face flush red as he hurriedly looked away.

"W-what do you mean?" Cas asked hungrily. His voice was thick and heavy as he spoke.

"I fell for you the first day I saw you too... but it was way before then." Dean whispered with a shaky breath.

"How long ago?" Cas breathed, his eyes wide and eager.

"First week of middle school. You transferred into my English class." Dean's face flushed as he tried to hold back a moan. He remembered it perfectly, Cas had walked in with style, his black book bag slung over one shoulder, popping gum loudly in his mouth and hell, he had even worn a generous amount of eyeliner then. Cas still wore eyeliner every now and then, but it was usually wasn't quite as heavy as it used to be. Even back then though, Cas had been the epitome of a grade ‘A’ badass. He had been the most popular kid in the whole middle school (and of course now he was the most popular kid in high school). Everyone wanted to be him or date him. "You were such a rebel even then." Dean sighed, lost in the memory.

Cas was completely silent for what felt like hours. Dean wondered if he had creeped Cas out with his confession. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Cas just ended up pushing him away and saying ‘ _Never mind freak get outta here. I hate you.’_

But Cas surprised him by breathing, "Dean Winchester... the boy who waited..."

Dean wasn't sure if he should laugh or cry. He understood the Doctor Who reference, but he was simply shocked that Cas still liked him even after he learned that Dean was super stalkerish and just flat out obsessive.

"I- you're not weirded out by that?" Dean asked in amazement.

"Dean... From that first time I saw you I knew that you had to be mine. You just seemed to be so... perfect and damn... that voice of yours. I honestly always assumed you were straight, or maybe even ace. I didn’t expect your spectrum to flash on the complete opposite side of the rainbow. So I tried to forget about my crush on you and ended up dating other people, but none of them held my interest the way you did." Cas moaned out loud, pressing kisses up and down Dean's neck. "Knowing now that you liked me even then just makes me really regret not having the balls to talk to you sooner."

"R-really?" Dean gasped as he clawed his fingers desperately through Castiel's hair as the boy grinded his hips back into his.

"Really really." Cas assured him. "When I saw you at your car after the concert let's just say I was a little adrenaline fueled. My ego and confidence were just a little bigger than normal. I kinda felt like I could rule the world after that, if you hadn’t come to that concert I probably still wouldn't have spoken to you because I didn’t want to intimidate you or scare you away."

Dean was in shock. He couldn't believe what he was hearing Cas tell him. "You can't be serious. _‘Mr. Always Confident Castiel’_ was afraid to talk to  _me. Me of all the people in the world_. _"_

"Hey, watch yourself Winchester." Cas teased. "You're not the only one who’s allowed to be quiet and shy... I know what I want, but I don’t always know how to get the things I want."

Dean honestly didn’t know what to say. This whole ordeal had taken him completely by surprise. He never would have imagined in a million years that Castiel would ever be saying anything like this to him. Hell, until a few days ago, Dean didn’t even think that Cas knew he even existed. That just showed how observant Dean was on a daily basis. His attention was usually more focused on avoiding bullies rather than checking to see if Cas watching him.

"Hey, by the way did I ever mention that I have a thing for guys in glasses?" Cas asked with a sly wink.

Dean’s face flushed red while he rolled his eyes and said, "Jesus Cas, this is sounding more like fanfiction than reality. I have to be dreaming."

Cas smirked and said, "Well I hope to God that this isn't a dream because I'm in paradise."

"Maybe we're in heaven then..." Dean breathed.

Cas snorted and said, "Doubt it, cause the thoughts running through my head right now are far from pure enough to get up there. I’m pretty sure heaven would kick me out."

Dean felt his face flush even darker while his cock gave an interested jerk in his pants. He had to bite back a moan as he asked, "Oh? And what thoughts are those?"

"Would you rather me show you?" Cas asked with an arched eyebrow as his hand began to travel further south.

Dean shifted uncomfortable. Until half an hour ago he had never even kissed someone now here he was with the chance to have sex with his crush. He wasn’t sure how to feel about all this, everything was moving so fast and his mind just seemed to be in a blur.  

"Don't worry, we're alone. Gabe and Balthazar won’t be back for a while." Cas assured him, assuming that he was worried about getting caught.

"How can you be sure?" Dean asked with concern in his voice. _‘Do I really wanna go through with this right now?’_ Dean asked himself. Half of his brain was thinking of wanting to take this slow while the other half was screaming at him to get on with it. This is something he had wanted for so long, but he hadn’t expected it to come so suddenly.

"Hey, we don’t have to do this if you don’t want to." Cas breathed softly, looking deeply into Dean’s eyes and removing the seductive tone from his voice. In a single breath Cas changed from the hot, seductive, sexy rock star, back into the sweet caring boy that Dean had been getting to know over the past few days.

"Are you sure?" Dean asked, not wanting to disappoint Cas.

"Of course Dean." Cas breathed, moving his hands up to cup Dean's face. "I don't want you to do anything you're uncomfortable with just because you think I want it. I want you to want it."

"I-I do want it- I want us- I just..." Dean stuttered trying to find the right words.

"Shh shh it's alright. You don’t have to explain it, I understand.” Cas said before pressing a soothing kiss against Dean’s lips.

Dean stayed silent after that and wondered how long it would be until Cas told him to move. He was still lying on top of Cas and he was pretty sure that it wasn’t overly comfortable for him.

However, instead of kicking him off, Cas had Dean rest his head against his chest while his fingers stroked through his short hair. Dean could have cried with happiness. He never imaged that being cared for on this level could feel so good. Dean was so content that he soon began to drift off to sleep while laying on Cas and listening to the steady beating of his heart.

However, right when he was on the brink of sleep, Castiel’s voice broke through the silence and asked, “Hey… uh can I ask you something?”

Dean lifted his head sleepily and looked back down into Castiel’s face as he asked, “Yeah, sure. What is it?” He was already a little weary of the question, but he also really didn’t have a reason to say no, he might as well hear what Cas was curious about.

  “Have you ever been in a relationship before?" Cas asked hesitantly.

Dean’s cheeks heated up and he shook his head in shame and whispered, "No, never."

“Hey, listen don’t be ashamed about it. It’s totally fine if you’ve never dated anyone.” Cas explained comfortingly. “I was just a little curious to be honest.

“There wasn’t really anyone else I could see myself with besides you and well… no one was ever really interested in me.” Dean explained.

Cas gathered Dean into a warm hug and said, "Well, how about this, if you willing to be my boyfriend. I will make this the best and only relationship that you’ll ever need. One day people will write amazing stories about the two teenage rock band dorks who fell in love with each other."

Dean smiled brightly at the word boyfriend and said, "Yeah, I think we could make that work.” Then he smirked and added, “I don’t know though, I doubt anyone would wanna write a story about me. You, of course, me no way.”

“Awwe don’t be like that Dean! You’re adorable! Who wouldn’t wanna write about you?” Cas teased with a cheery smile.

“Well… I guess we are all just stories in the end if you think about it." Dean breathed with a smirk on his lips.

"Again with the references." Cas said with a laugh, "Well, I guess we'll just have to make it a good one eh?"

Dean started laughing and pressed his head into Castiel's shoulder as he said, "Oh my God stop it!”

“Awe come on, you know you liked that.” Cas snorted.

“No more painful Doctor Who references! I don’t think my heart can take it!” Dean said dramatically.

“Well then you’re in for a bumpy ride then because I am full of references.” Cas teased.

Dean winked slyly at Cas and whispered, “Geronimo.”

Cas shook his head and rolled his eyes before he pulled Dean in and kissed him.

When they broke apart Dean felt like he needed to get something off his chest so he said, “J-just to give you… I don’t know… full disclosure I guess… I’ve never slept with anyone and well… before today I had never kissed anyone.”

“Well I kinda assumed the sex part.” Cas teased him but his smile became comforting as he added, “I didn’t expect the kiss one though. So what you’re saying is that I’ve already gotten two of your firsts? First kiss and first relationship?”

Dean nodded and blushed before adding, “And first crush too.”

Cas beamed even wider and said, “Well damn, that makes you an even better kisser than I originally thought. You’re natural and a fast learner.”

“Or maybe you’re just a good teacher!” Dean whispered with a soft smile.

A corner of Castiel’s lip turned upwards as he said, “Well thank you, I appreciate the complement. I’ve got plenty more things to teach you in the future.”

Since Dean still didn’t have his glasses on Castiel’s face was kinda blurry, but even despite that, Dean swore that he could still see a little glint of mischief in those blue eyes.

“So, I’m guessing you’ve _done it_ before then?” Dean asked curiously while his cheeks heated up. He was pretty sure that by the end of the day all his blood was just going to pool into his face and stay there for the rest of his life.

“By it I’m assuming you’re asking if I’ve had sex before and the answer is yes. I have had sex, but I’m not like Gabriel and Balthazar. They fuck just any chick who will give them the time of day, which isn’t hard to find around here, but I’ve dated everyone I’ve had sex with. I’m also clean if you’re wondering that too.” Cas told him. It was becoming apparent to Dean that Cas had no problem talking about this kind of stuff.

After that, their conversation slowly drifted away from the topic of sex and relationships much to Dean’s relief. They finally ended up getting up to stretch their legs and move around a bit. Cas took him downstairs into the basement and gave him a tour of their giant recording studio/band practice room.

Everything in this house was just huge.

While they were down stairs, Cas spent close to an hour telling Dean about the different types of instruments that they had down there. He even showed Dean how to use a sound board. While they were down stairs the two of them had a hard time keeping their hands off each other. The personal space rules no longer applied for them it seemed, not that Dean could complain. They swapped kisses that sometimes stretched for minutes at a time until needed to breathe. At that point they would both pull back and look at each other in awe and carry on like nothing had happened.  This was a normal that Dean could get used to.

They had been down stairs for so long that neither of them knew how much time had passed until they heard Gabriel and Balthazar come thundering down there.

The two of them, who had been making out heavily, instantly snapped apart and acted like they weren’t doing anything.

When the other two boys entered the room Gabriel announced, “Hey, you two, look, we found a wild moose while we were out!”

Both Dean and Cas looked over, trying to slow their heartbeats and catch their breaths as they saw Sam walk into the room.

“Heya Sammy.” Dean called with a faint smile as his cheeks flushed red. This was so not what he needed right now…

“Hey Dean! Hey Cas!” Sam exclaimed cheerily. “Gabriel and Balthazar said we could stay for dinner! Can we Dean?”

Dean gave Cas a sidelong glance and said, “Uh, yeah sure Sammy! Why not!”

He knew that refraining from reaching over and just kissing Cas whenever he wanted was going to be hard. He already wanted to just lean in and kiss him again, but he wouldn’t dare do that with others in the room. Especially if one of those ‘others’ was Sam.

“YAYY! Thanks Dean!” Sam cheered happily as he pumped his fist into the air.

Gabriel and Balthazar also looked pleased as they stood beside Sam.

“Come on Moose! I have to show you our movie collection!” Gabriel exclaimed.

Balthazar eagerly chimed in and said, “Yeah, We’ve got all the marvel movies upstairs!”

Sam beamed and winked to Dean before tearing off upstairs with Gabriel and Balthazar right behind him.

“I swear sometimes those two act younger than me.” Cas said, shaking his head in disbelief as they listened to the receding sounds of trampling feet.

Dean snickered and tried to straighten out his unruly hair.

“I’m just happy that they didn’t catch on to what we were doing.” Dean breathed softly as he busied himself with the sound board again. “Sam is a pretty smart kid; I was kinda shocked that he didn’t pick up on it.”

Cas cocked his head to the side and asked, “Would he not be cool with us?”

Dean shook his head and said, “No it’s not that. He knows I’m- I like guys and he’s cool with it. I would just never hear the end of it. You know, the classic sibling teasing.”

Cas snickered and said, “Eh, screw him. He’s just jealous.”

Dean rolled his eye and said, “Well he’ll have to get his own, because you’re already taken.” As soon as Dean finished talking he flushed red and ducked his head.

Cas curled an arm around Dean’s shoulders and kissed him on the side of the head. “Believe me, I know. I’m only dating this super sexy nerd who I’ve been crushing on for years.”

Dean’s blush deepened and he hid his face in his hands as he grumbled, “Stop it Cas.”

“Make me.” Cas teased with an underlying challenge in his tone.

Dean peeked between his fingers and looked up at the expression on Castiel’s face. There was a smug smirk sitting on his lips as he watched Dean.

“Fine then, I will.” Dean said in a flat voice as he moved his hands and reached up to tangle them in Castiel’s hair.

He was getting more confident when it came to kissing Cas. Dean noticed that he didn’t blush as much when they kissed now, but that spark of electricity still shot through him each time they so much as brushed against each other.

Cas was a little shocked at first but he happily kissed Dean back as he moaned softly. Dean let his tongue slide across Castiel’s lips, running his tongue past the lip ring slowly. Castiel eagerly parted his lips and let Dean had more access.

Castiel’s hands moved to travel down Dean’s sides. They were sitting in separate rolling chairs but Cas tugged his chair closer to Dean’s so they could kiss easier.

Just when they were getting into the heat of their kiss someone behind them that sounded suspiciously like Sam shouted, “I FUCKING KNEW IT! GABRIEL, BALTHAZAR YOU FUCKERS BOTH OWE ME TWENTY DOLLARS!!!”

Dean and Cas jumped apart and whirled around to see Sam, Gabriel, and Balthazar all standing in the doorway with shit eating grins on their faces.

“God damn it.” Gabriel swore as he dug into his pockets to get his wallet.

“Awkwarddd!” Balthazar chimed in a singsong voice. “By the way, Gabriel, be a dear and give Sam $40. I seem to be out of cash at the moment.”

“I fucking hate you Balthazar.” Gabriel sneered as he glared at Balthazar in displeasure.

“Awe come on Gabey, pull that damn stick out of your arse and help me out here.” Balthazar said with an arched eyebrow.

“You fucking owe me you douche.” Gabe snapped as he punched Balthazar hard in the arm.

Dean and Cas were just watching this scuffle go down in utter silence.

When Balthazar catches sight of Dean and Cas staring he says, “Oh, don’t mind us you two, carry on with what you were doing. Unless you would like us to join in for a ménage à… how do you say five in French?”

“Get the hell out of here you fucks.” Cas swears at them as he grabs a drum stick laying nearby and chucking it at the other three.

The drumstick flew straight at Gabriel causing the boy to duck and snicker deviously.

“Nice aim baby bro. Maybe you should join the football team.” Gabriel teased him as he waggled his eyebrows, “Dean-o can be your cheerleader. I’ll even get him a nice miniskirt and everything.”

Dean’s face turned pink at the thought. He personally wasn’t up for wearing a damn skirt, but Cas in a football uniform was something he would pay money to see. With a small grimace Dean flipped Gabriel the finger and mumbled an embarrassed, “Fuck you.”

“Alright guys, that’s enough. Leave them alone.” Sam scolded Balthazar and Gabriel. “We actually just came down here to ask what type of pizza you guys wanted. We were gonna order some from Papa Johns.” Sam explained as he looked at his red faced brother.

“I uh… I don’t care. Just get whatever…” Dean said with his face feeling hot enough to catch fire.

“Alright then. Hey, Pizza’s on me guys.” Sam said as he lifted up the forty dollars that he had just received from Gabriel.

“I hate you so much right now.” Gabriel said with a small glare in Sam’s direction.

“No ya don’t! You wouldn’t know what to do without me you big fucking doofus.” Sam said as he smirked up at Gabriel.

Gabriel just rolled his eyes and lightly punched Sam in the arm.

Finally after what felt like hours, Cas chased the others off as they tromped upstairs leaving mocking whistles and catcalls hanging in the air behind them.

“Sorry about that... Those guys are assholes and clearly a bad influence on your brother…” Cas said with an apologetic look on his face.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Sam was the one who started it… He’s a sassy little shit but you can’t help loving him.” Dean said with a laugh.

Cas snorted then proceeded to show Dean the rest of their music studio. They did this until Gabriel, Balthazar and Sam called to them to inform them that the pizza had arrived.

The next few hours both Cas and Dean tried to keep their hands off of either other while they ate. The other three didn’t make it any easier with all their gentle teasing and subtle undertones.

When they finally left for the night, Cas dragged him off into the hall while Sam went to go find his shoes (which Gabriel had taken and hidden somewhere).

“I wish you could just stay here forever.” Cas whispered as he clung onto Dean in the darkness of the room.

“I wish I could too.” Dean breathed back as he felt Castiel’s warm breath on his skin.

Cas slowly leaned in and captured Dean’s lips in his own. There was no rush to this kiss; it was just slow, passionate and full of promises for a good future.

Unfortunately, they had to break apart much sooner than they wanted to when they heard the others returning.

Slowly, the two of them slipped out of the dark hall and back into the main entryway.

“You ready?” Dean asked his brother as he walked towards the door.

Sam nodded and smiled. “Yep! I am. Fucking Gabriel put my shoes on a stuffed moose head.”

Gabriel chuckled and said, “Well, I needed a way of introducing you to the rest of your moose family.”

Sam rolled his eyes while Balthazar tried not to fall over and die from fits of laughter.

Dean just shook his head in disbelief and gave Cas one more sensual look. Cas reached out and softly touched Dean’s arm.

“Oh would you two bloody kiss already or shall I get you two a room?” Balthazar called as he watched their exchange.

“You can cut the sexual tension in the room with a fucking butter knife!” Gabriel commented.

Dean was blushing now. He didn’t really like being observed like this. He was used to try to blend into the shadows and not be noticed.

Suddenly, Sam reached out and literally shoved Dean into Cas. Dean stumbled forward and fell into Castiel’s arms. “Just kiss and get it over. We’ve got school tomorrow Dean and I need to get some sleep.”

Cas gave Dean a small smirk and tilted his head, silently asking Dean if it was alright to kiss him.

For an answer, Dean leaned into and gave Cas a small peck on the lips. He tried to pull away wanting to make the kiss short as his burned in embarrassment, but Cas followed after him and gave him a longer slower kiss that left him slightly light headed.

They stayed like this until someone cleared their throats and made them come back down to earth.

Dean and Cas untangled from each other’s arms and Dean began to walk towards the door.

Sam followed after Dean, but before he left Sam turned to look at Cas as he said, “You better be good to my brother Cas. I know you’re my friend, but if you break his heart I won’t hesitate to break your face.”

Cas gave Sam a soldiers salute and said, “Yes sir.” while Dean glared at Sam and simply dragged him out of the house.

Dean couldn’t help but smile as him and Sam drove home. His life finally seemed to be improving after years of misfortune. For the first time in a very long time, Dean realized that he was actually excited to go to school in the morning.

Dean’s life was finally beginning to click into place.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song that Dean sang: Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd
> 
> Chapter Title Song: I kissed a boy- Cobra Starship cover/parody


	6. Not Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the ridiculous gaps between updates... School has been keeping me so busy that I don't really have time for much of anything anymore. I am trying my best tho :) 
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy the chapter!

The next day seemed to pass by in a blur for Dean.

He rushed through his morning routine like it was nothing. As he walked out the door Dean couldn't even remember if he had eaten breakfast or not. (Later he realized he had forgotten when his stomach began to grumble). His mind was still spinning from his amazing night with Cas.

' _I have a boyfriend...'_ Dean thought to himself as he rushed Sam out the door.  _'I have my first boyfriend and its Castiel fucking Novak. There really must be an angel looking out for me.'_

Dean felt like he was walking on air as he made his way across the grass and towards his Impala. He couldn't seem to keep this goofy grin off his face the whole way.

Behind him, Sam trudged along sleepily moaning something about it being too early and he wanted to go back to bed.

"You didn't get up earlier asshat, you actually slept later." Dean snickered as Sam stumbled from the house with a gloomy look on his face.

"I went to bed at four in the morning Dean. I was working on a damn English paper." Sam complained. "Cut me some slack, I literally got like three hours of sleep dude."

"Want me to see I've got one of those monster energy drinks?" Dean asked. He felt kinda bad for the kid. Dean couldn’t deny that Sam was very devoted when it came to school. He may slack off with other shit, but Sam took school very seriously. Dean was proud of his brother for his devotion and good grades.

"Why would you have one of those?" Sam asked looking up and giving him a strange look. "I've never seen you drink one of those."

"Remember that weird guy, Andy Gallagher?" Dean asked as he climbed into the Impala.

"You mean that weirdo dude who got suspended for making all the computers at school play gay porn?"

"That's the one." Dean snickered. The kid was a genius with computers but for some dumb reason he had taken s basic level IBA class. He had probably just wanted to get an easy ‘A’. Well, one day he had gotten bored in class so he spent the entire class period reprograming every computer in the school so that they would turn on and play gay porn. It took a solid three hours to regain control of the school computers. Andy had put multiple videos in a kind of playlist and locked out the computers. Needless to say, most classes were cut short that day and Andy was expelled for the rest of the school year. "Before he pulled the whole porn shit he just randomly came up to me and gave me like a handful of monsters and told me to try one. I don’t really know why though, I think he might have been stoned or something…."

"I never understood him…” Sam hummed tiredly as he clicked his seat buckle into place. After a moment of silence between the two of them Sam looked up, biting his lip before asking, “Do they work?"

"Fuck yeah they do. I can’t believe you’ve never had one!" Dean exclaimed. "You’ll turn into the Tasmanian devil once you've finished one of those things."

Sam was silent again, weighing his options for a moment before saying, "Fuck it; hit me up Dean."

"You got it Sammy." Dean said as he reached over the seat to dig around for the drink.

"Dean, you know Sammy is a chubby twelve year olds name right?"

"What? You're not twelve anymore?" Dean teased his brother.

Sam just glared at Dean before "Seriously dude! Just don't call me that anymore?" Sam pleaded.

"Awe cram it Sammy, you know that ain't gonna change shit." Dean snickered.

"Jerk." Sam scoffed. Though Dean wasn't looking at his brother's face, Dean knew he had just been given the first bitch face of the day. Dean could hear it in Sam's voice.

"Bitch." Dean shot back as he finally found the drink and sat back properly in his seat.

"Just give me the damn drink already." Sam whined as Dean popped the tab.

"Hold up," Dean said, moving the can away from his brother's greedy hands. "Finder’s fee." He said before taking a long swig from the energy drink.

Dean's face scrunched up as the strong liquid ravished his taste buds all at once. He wasn't gonna lie, that shit was strong, but it tasted amazing as hell. Dean knew he probably shouldn’t be drinking monster when he was already freaking out about seeing Cas at school.  _‘You only live once.’_ Dean thought to himself.

"Dude, I don't think you'd  _ever_ need this shit." Sam said, eyeing both Dean and the drink. "Even when you're tired as shit, you're fucking wired and hyperactive as ever." Sam mumbled as he finally wrenched the can from Dean's grasp.

"Whoops." Dean teased, winking at Sam and turning on the Impala's smooth clean sounding engine.

"Just listen to her purr Sammy." Dean moaned as he stroked the steering wheel softly. He would be able to drive her all day if it didn’t cost so damn much to fill up the gas tank.

"I sure hope Cas doesn't get jealous Dean." Sam snorted, "You and this car seem to be in a pretty serious relationship right now. I should tell Becky Rosen to writing some fanfiction about it."

"Don't you dare Sam." Dean hissed with silent threats riddling his voice.

Becky was a nerdy blonde girl who had been obsessing over Sam since they day they had met in pre-k. Her crush on Sam was blatantly obvious but she just didn’t understand the fact that Sam was less than interested in dating her. Sam was always looking for new ways to avoid her and her ‘crazy’ as Sam called it. Even Dean had to admit that she was beyond the normal boundaries of strange. There was no denying that Becky was a mega nerd and a totally obsessed fangirl. She was the type of fangirl who brought shame upon a fandom. Becky was the girl who openly spread hate about her NOTP’s, made rude comments to anyone who went against her views, and wrote crude, poorly executed slash fics about her ever growing fleet of ships. Dean was willing to bet that Becky probably had more than a dozen fanfics written about her and Sam.

To say the least, Dean tried to stay as far away from her as humanly possible. He just wasn’t in the mood to hear why Rory and the Doctor were ‘destined to be together’, or get asked what color underwear Sam was wearing that day.

“Ships have names right?” Sam asked, not letting the subject drop easily. "We could call it Impadean...." Sam mused. "Depala."

"Knock it off!" Dean exclaimed as Sam began to create ship names for him and his car. Just trying to come up with a name was going too far. He was scared that Becky might even able to  _smell_ the beginnings of a new ship. A Dean/Impala fanfic would doom him for the rest of his life. He just knew everyone at school would somehow find out about it and he would get even more shit from the other students. ' _This is why you never offer to teach your own brother about fandoms.'_ _Dean thought to himself._

“Deanpala?" Sam hummed a smirk on his lips now. “I like that one! It’s got a nice ring to it… Deanpala.”

"I will haunt your ass. Do you hear me? I will haunt your ass if you give Becky any dumb ideas." Dean threatened as he focused on the road ahead of him.

"You know you ship it." Sam teased.

Now it was Dean's turn to hand out his best bitch face. Sam called it the ' _fuck you_ ' face. “Listen Sam, I  _really_ don’t wanna hear all the ways a human can possibly use a car for sexual stimulation. I’m pretty damn sure that Becky knows all of them and will write about me doing those things.”

Sam smirked in victory as he lifted the Monster and took his first sip of the energy drink.

The liquid had barely touched Sam’s lips before his brother choked and spewed the drink across the passenger’s side of the car.

Dean wasn’t sure whether he wanted to laugh at Sam or yell at him. Now there was monster all over his fucking car, but Sam’s face was priceless. Dean wished he had a camera to remember this moment.

"You’re gonna be the one cleaning all that shit out of my car." Dean threatened as he fought off his giggles.

Sam nodded slowly, his face scrunching into a strange ‘sour lemon’ expression on his face. "I just didn't realize that this was  _that_  strong.”

“Too much for you Sammy?” Dean smirked, glancing at his brother from the corner of his eyes.

From what Dean could tell, Sam was looking at the drink with a mixed look of aw and disgust.

“You wish!” Sam said, as his mood shifted and he became happy Sam again.

Already he seemed to be more awake as he eagerly took another sip from the can. This time, Sam actually managed to keep himself from spitting it back out.

"Those bad boys pack one hell of a punch." Dean commented.

"You weren't lying...." Sam breathed eagerly. "These are amazing Dean!"

"Glad I made ya happy Sammy." Dean said rolling his eye and shaking his head in disbelief.  _‘I have the weirdest fucking brother in the world.’_ He thought to himself. “Just don’t blame me when you get send to ISS for bouncing off the God damn walls all day.”

Instead of answering, Sam just gave a little evil laugh that spelled nothing but trouble. Dean should have known that giving Sam a monster at ass-o-clock in the morning was a terrible idea.

“Dude, come on man. You drank that like what, thirty seconds ago? Your tiredness must just be in your head man, because that shit doesn’t hit you  _that_ quick.” Dean snorted.

“Says you.” Sam teased with a small giggle.

“God Sammy, ya know… you’d be a happy drunk.” Dean said.

“Good.” Sam chirped happily.

Dean rolled his eyes and leaned forward turning up the radio as the notes to a Metallica song drifted from the speakers.

The next few minutes was filled with a peaceful calm (aside from Sam drinking his energy drink like his life depended on it). Dean had even managed to forget about Cas for a second so he could calm his nerves. His mind was focused on the road as he hummed softly along with the music filtering throughout the interior of the car.

Unfortunately, his calm mood didn’t last for very long.

“Dude what is your problem??” Dean suddenly asked, as he turned the music down. “Why are you staring at me like that?” Sam had started staring at him so intently that Dean could  _literally_ feel his brother watching him.

“I don’t have any problem Dean.” Sam said with a smug smirk. “What’s your problem?”

“ _You_. You’re my problem at the moment.” Dean grumbled stealing a glance at Sam’s face.

“Are you sure that’s what’s bothering you?” Sam asked.

“What else would it be?” Dean said in exasperation.

Dean had the feeling that Sam was talking about Cas but he refused to make verbal accusations.

There was a strained silence between them. Sam was doing his best to make Dean uncomfortable and it was working. Finally, Dean lost his patience and said, “Well, are you gonna say it?”

“Say what?” Sam asked with an almost too innocent voice.

“I dunno!” Dean exclaimed, “Maybe something like:  _I knew Cas and .you would get together_  or  _I told you so_.”

“Nope, no I told you so.” Sam teased. “You already know I was right and that right there is good enough for me.”

Dean pursed his lips.  _‘You little shit. Why did you have to bring this up?’_ He thought to himself.

After a minute Dean opened his mouth hesitantly and asked, “Do- do you think you can just… I dunno… keep this a secret for now?”

“Of course.” Sam said, his playful mood quickly sobering.

“The less people who know about this the better.” Dean told his brother.

“Look Dean, I’m just happy, that you’re with someone who makes you happy.” Sam told him. “That’s all that really matters to me Dean. Besides, that’s not really something that’s mine to tell.”

“Thanks Sammy…” Dean breathed as he pulled into the school parking lot. His heart was still pounding in his chest, but now he could breathe a little easier. He hadn’t expected Sam to say anything to anyone else about him and Cas, but Dean just had to be sure.

“No problem Dean.” Sam said with a soft smile.

When they parked, Dean was tapping his feet like crazy. His nerves were already beginning to take control of his body. Dean felt like he was going to faint. It was a probably a really good thing that he hadn’t drunk a whole monster before school. If he had, Dean was pretty sure he would end up exploding on the spot. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get out of the car.

' _Maybe I should just go home'._ Dean thought to himself. ' _Otherwise I don't think I'll be able to focus all damn day'._

He almost turned the car back on and drove away.

However, Sam’s voice pulled him away from that thought as he leaned back into the car and asked, “Dean, are you coming?"

"Right! Yeah... sorry... let’s go!" Dean exclaimed hauling his book bag out of the car and joining Sam outside. Dean turned and locked the doors of the Impala, giving his only way home one last look.

Then, with Sam already bouncing off the walls, they both walked towards the school doors.

“Will you fucking hold the fuck still for like two seconds?” Dean snapped after second as a smile began to creep onto his lips.

Sam was practically skipping beside him with a huge ass grin plastered across his chubby cheeks. “I don’t think I could stop if I wanted to Dean.”

“Alright Barry Allan, go take a few laps around the school would ya?” Dean teased his brother.

“Fandom references already?” Sam groaned. “We haven’t even made it inside yet!”

“It’s never too early for fandom references Sammy.” Dean said with a knowing smirk.

 _‘It’s also the best way for me to calm down.’_ Dean thought to himself. Usually, when he was stressed, fandom references just spilled out of him.

“Dean... I think I’m gonna have a problem today…” Sam said, as his hands fidgeted.

“Like I said, go take a run man. Go out to the track, you’ve got a few minutes.” Dean told his brother.

“I’ll get all sweaty though!” Sam complained.

“You’re funeral.” Dean snorted with a small shrug.

“Ughhh…” Sam moaned.

“Come on man, I thought you liked running!” Dean told Sam.

“Not this early in the morning.” Sam grumbled as he glanced towards the track field.

Sam was silent for a second, the he let out a loud groan, making Dean jump slightly. “Fine… I guess I’ll see ya later Dean…”

“Later Sammy.” Dean snorted. “Don’t break any sound barriers while you’re down there!”

“Ha ha you’re  _so_  funny Dean…” Sam said with a roll of his eyes.

“Well, I think I’m hilarious.” Dean responded.

All he got for an answer was a Sam Winchester bitch face as his brother took off towards the track field.

 _‘He is a mess.’_ Dean thought to himself with a smile.

As he climbed up the step Dean sighed and thought,  _‘Well, I guess I’m on my own now…’_ Already his anxiety was picking up again without Sam by his side. Sam was kinda like Dean’s safety net, and without him Dean panicked. Dean was worrying so much that he was actually starting to feel sick to his stomach.  _‘Please don’t let me puke…’_ He prayed mentally.  _‘I don’t even have anything in my stomach to throw up!’_

The common area, like usual, was packed with thousands of children mingling around, teasing one another and chatting with their friends as the waited for the first bell of the morning. None of them were looking at Dean, but as he passed by each group of people, he felt like they were all staring at him. He was eluding himself to believe that everyone was glaring at the back of his head the moment that he passed. Deep in his heart, Dean knew that it was just his nerves making him to think like this, but he still couldn’t stop the feeling washing over him.

 _‘Don’t panic Dean. Don’t panic. Just remember to breathe.’_ Dean thought to himself.  _‘Remember, these assholes can smell fear. Calm down.’_

Dean wanted to go searching through the crowd of children to find Cas, but he knew that he couldn’t. Partly because people may become suspicion as to why he was there, and partly because the schools bitchiest chicks always hung out somewhere nearby Cas. All he wanted was to hide in Castiel’s leather jacket and forget his problems. This was only wishful thinking though. Dean wouldn’t dream of trying anything like that at school. There were too many people around. It would only lead to nasty rumors and more bullying.

As of now, everything had to stay exactly the same. That was the only way to ensure his safety for the remainder of his senior year.

 _‘If I can’t be with Cas right now, then I need solitude and silence…’_ Dean told himself as he walked toward the school Library. The library had always been his favorite place to hide at school when he just needed to get away from things for a little while. Most people at his school seemed to be allergic to reading so they avoided the library at all costs. That just meant there were less people to deal with.

Even as he entered the library Dean still has the feeling that everyone was watching him. His mind even started to tell him that everyone was now whispering behind his back. They had to be talking about what had happened between him and Cas the other night, even though there was no way they could have found out about it. Dean was just obnoxiously paranoid like that and he hated it.

No sooner than the library doors shut, Charlie Bradbury stepped in front of him with an eager smile on her face.

Dean smiled at the bubbly redhead. He enjoyed hanging out with her, as she could be irritating at times but Dean found that he really didn’t mind. They had a special connection that Dean just couldn’t describe. Charlie was kinda like the little sister he never wanted. She gave him someone to talk about fandoms with and someone to ask for relationship advice. It was nice knowing someone aside from Sam who genuinely enjoyed hanging out with him.

"Where ya off to this morning dork?" She teased lightly standing in front of him that a grin still on her face.

Dean looked around them eyebrows raised as he gestured around him and said, "The library. Where are you going?"

"Back to my table." Charlie told him.

Dean nodded slowly; it figures that Charlie would be leaving already. Part of him had hoped that she had wanted to hang out, but it was more likely that she just wanted to back to her other friends.

"Well, I guess it was nice seeing you then Charlie, I won't keep you." Dean said with a soft, almost sad looking smile.

"Woah, nu uh, you're not leaving me already! I was literally waiting for you to arrive. I knew you hid out in here so I came in here so I could find you and to drag you along with me!" Charlie exclaimed with wide eyes. "You're coming with me Winchester! Become one with a geekdom of people!"

"You... want me to come sit with you guys?" Dean asked incredulously.

"Hell yeah I do! You can join the table of Moondoor!" Charlie told him, beaming as she grabbed Dean's hand and dragged him out of the library and back into the crowds of people.

"Moodoor?" Dean questioned as he repeatedly stumbled over his feet from the fast pace Charlie was setting.

"Oh, that's just the name for our little clan of nerds." Charlie explained.

“Do you have a group with  _all_ the other nerds at school” Dean asked. He hoped that Charlie would say no. Nerds didn’t always get along, especially if it involved Dean. Most of the nerds hated him for being ‘too nerdy’. The rest of the nerds just stayed away from him to avoid the possibility of becoming new targets for Dean’s bullies.

“Oh hell no!” Charlie exclaimed as the two of them weaved through the crowd of people. "Our group is the cool group of nerds. We typically clash badly with some of the other nerds. Especially the Homestuck group."

"Homestuck?" There was a question in his voice as Dean spoke.

"Seriously? You’ve never heard of Homestuck?” Charlie asked incredulously.

Dean shook his head as waited for Charlie to explain.

“Well good, just don't ask then, it's  _really_ complicated." Charlie snorted. "Anyways, so you've got that group, you got your Marvel group, the DC group, the anime group, the Doctor Who group, need I go on?"

By this point, Dean was laughing as he as he said, “I think I got it now. So what group are you in?"

" _We,_  are the multi-fandom group. Everyone is welcome as long as they aren’t assholes. There are actually a couple groups like ours, but this one is the best” Charlie told him.

“It already sounds awesome!” Dean said with a wide smile.

“Oh believe me it is!” Charlie beamed. “We even go to cons and cosplay together!”

“No way!” Dean exclaimed eagerly. “I wanna go to a con so bad! I’ve never been!”

“Holy shit! Dude, I’m gonna take you to one then! I can’t believe I get to be the one to take you to your first convention! There is a local one pretty close to here next month! Me and Kev will take you!” Charlie told him as she failed to contain her excitement.

“Kevin Tran? He goes to comic cons?” Dean asked, as his mind flashed to the nerdy Asian kid in his math class. He vaguely remembered seeing him with Charlie at the Fallen Angels concert. Dean memories had gotten kinda fuzzy towards the end. He was lucky that he remembered anything from that night that didn’t involve Cas.

“Oh yeah! When his nose isn’t buried in some math book he’s geeking out over Star Wars shit.” Charlie told him with a smirk. “I tried to make him cosplay Luke Skywalker last time so I could be princess Leia, but the little shit wouldn’t do it!”

“Please tell me you cosplayed Leia anyways!” Dean said with a smile.

“You bet I did!” Charlie exclaimed cheerily. “Ended up hooking up with a hot chick that night because of it!”

“That’s awesome!” Dean said as he felt a blush creep up his cheeks. The last thing he wanted to know what Charlie did with her hookups after a comic con. All it made Dean think of was doing the same thing with Cas. He was pretty sure that they weren’t really far enough into their relationship for that to happen yet. One day was a little soon to be having sex.

“Sooo…” Charlie said, a smirk growing on her face. “Speaking of hook ups, did anything happen between you and Cas the other night?”

Dean’s heart skipped a beat. Was Charlie like a mind reader or something? There was no way she could have possible know that he had been thinking of Cas. His cheeks quickly changed a dark shade of red as he scrambled to think of an answer.

Dean wasn’t sure if he was ready to tell anyone anything about him and Cas yet. Although judging by the look on Charlie’s face, Dean wasn’t going to get much of a choice in the matter.

“Well….” Dean started, trying to stall his answer. “I dunno…”

“Our queen as returned!” Someone close by exclaimed, interrupting Dean’s attempt to respond.

 _‘Thank God.’_ Dean thought to himself.

The kid who had called out to them was standing tall on a cafeteria bench and greeted them with arms thrown wide.

“Ash, get off the damn chair!” A blonde girl sitting beside him scoffed.

“Awe Joanna Beth don’t be such a hard ass!” The kid exclaimed as he clambered cheerily down from the bench.

“I’m gonna throw you on your ass if you call me that again!” The girl threatened.

“Alright, alright, calm down, you’re gonna scare off our new nerddom member!” Charlie chided the group.

“Shark bait hoo ha ha!” The guy named Ash exclaimed.

“Oh come on, lay off the kid!” Another blonde said with a roll of her eyes.

“Come on Donna, you gotta admit that I introduced him with style.” Ash teased.

“I’d listen to Donna if I were you.” A dark hair, punk rock looking chick said with a lazy smirk. Once she was done speaking she glanced up at Dean. Immediately, Dean felt her eyes raking across his body and scanning his thoughts. She looked like she wanted to eat him alive which made Dean squirm in discomfort.

Fortunately, another voice captured Dean’s attention and made him forget about the dark haired girl for the moment.

“You quoted a line from Nemo. How is that showing style?” The kid snorted. After a second Dean realized that it was Kevin Tran. Dean hadn’t seen Kevin at first, but that was probably because his face had been buried in a textbook only two seconds before.

Ash looked like he was about argue with Kevin, but Charlie interrupted and said, “Oh save the fighting for League of Legends you asshats!” Ash quickly shut his mouth and turned his attention back to Charlie as she added, “Now, last time I checked, everyone except for Ash had manners so I’d like you to meet Dean Winchester.”

“Hey Dean!” Kevin called out with a smile.

“Hey Kevin!” Dean answered back.

“Make yourself at home Dean!” Charlie told him, signaling Dean to sit down beside her.

As they sat, Charlie went around the table and introduced him to everyone sitting with them.

“Alright, so you already know Kevin, then you’ve got that asshat Ash Harvelle-”

“That’s Doctor Badass to you.” Ash said with a smirk.

“Oh can it Ash, you’re the only one who calls yourself that.” Kevin snorted.

Charlie rolled her eyes, smirking a little as she continued introduce Dean to everyone else. She pointed to the girl sitting beside Dean and said, “That’ Ash’s half-sister Jo Harvelle. Then you’ve got Donna Hanscum and that mean looking gal over there is Pamela Barns”

“Thanks for that Charlie. You’re gonna make him scared of me before he even talks to me!” The women Pamela teased.

She was the girl who had been watching him.

“Charlie is just being a tease.” Jo told Dean with a soft, kind smile on her face. She seemed younger than the rest of the group but she had a kind face that Dean instantly warmed up to. “Pam is really nice. She just… comes off strong at first.”

“Yeah I don’t bite… much.” Pam told him with a wink.

Dean just nodded slowly, not really knowing what to say back. It was clear that she was flirting with him but Dean had no idea how to respond. People didn’t flirt with him too often.

Pam just snickered and said, “Don’t worry; I get the message sweet cheeks. I’ll tone it down. I’m just teasing. I’m physic so I already know what’s rattling around in that noggin of yours.”

Dean’s face flushed red, he hoped she was joking. “Please tell me you’re joking.” Dean said with a weak smile. He was pretty sure that no one wanted to go rattling around in his head. His mind was mostly full of fandoms, Cas, and self-hate.

Instead of answering Pam just winked at Dean. That didn’t make him feel any better.

“Pam just play’s tough. She a big ol’ softie though.” The blonde, Donna told him with a wide smile. “I’m sure you’ll grow to love her as much as we do.”

“Welcome to the family Dean!” Charlie said with a grin.

Dean smiled back at her. Though this first meeting was by far one of the strangest things he had experienced in a while, Dean still felt at home with these people. They all seemed really cool. Not assholes like most of the other kids at their school.

He could get used to hanging out with this group. Dean might have finally found the place where he truly belonged.

“So this is everyone!” Charlie told Dean, sounding like an over hyper puppy. “Every now and then there are a few other kids who come and go just to say hey, but for the most part this is our group of geeks!”

“This is great!” Dean breathed excitedly. Maybe these nerds would actually like hanging out with him. Hopefully they weren’t just putting on a nice face to make Charlie happy. Dean genuinely wanted to be accepted by this group. He figured that it was about time he made some nerd friends of his own. Dean needed to get a grasp on his own social life. This was finally his chance to do that. Thank God for Charlie.

 _‘It’s better late than never.’_ He thought to himself as he smiled at the people around him.

“So Dean,” Jo started, “What fandoms do you follow?”

Dean smiled at her softly and snorted as he said, “Too many to count.”

Jo nodded in understanding so she rephrased her question. “Fine then, top three.”

He chuckled softly; Dean could already tell that he liked this girl. She seemed sweet, not super bitchy like most of the chicks at this school. Dean could see the two of them getting along pretty well.

“Come on, even that’s difficult to answer!” Dean exclaimed. He sighed, thinking what his favorite fandoms were. After a moment he finally said, “I guess… Doctor Who, Star Wars, and anything DC or Marvel related.”

“That’s four fandoms!” She teased.

Dean simply smirked back at her and said, “What are your top three?”

“Marvel, Doctor Who, and Lord of the Rings.” She answered.

“Impressive.” Dean answered still smiling at her softly.

Then Dean turned to the others and asked, “What about you guys? What fandoms are y’all in?”

Kevin spoke up first as he said, “Star Wars mostly. Although, Star Trek is pretty great too.”

“I’m kinda a universal rider.” Ash said flipping his hair back. Dean noted that the boy was sporting a mullet that looked like it was straight out of the 80’s. “Star Trek is always good in my books though. Have you ever tried watching it high?”

Dean shook his head and said, “Uhmm… no, I haven’t’ tried that…”

“Dude… It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before!” Ash said in awe. Dean wondered if the kid was already stoned. “You’ve gotta try it sometime.”

“I dunno… that’s not really my thing.” Dean said with a shake of his head.

“Ash no one wants to hear about your weird fetishes.” Jo scoffed shooting the boy a slightly irritated look. “It’s bad enough watching you trapes around the house in your underwear singing ‘Black Parade’ at the top of your lungs.”

“No one asked you to watch!” Ash snickered

“Sometimes you’re not even wearing underwear!” She exclaimed.

Everyone at the table started laughing while Ash told them, “No one tells you how to live your lives! Don’t blame a man for liking to feel a breeze down there!”

That only made the rest of them laugh even harder.

When they were all able to speak again Dean looked at Pam and asked, “What about you Pam? What are your fandoms?”

“I’m a Game of Thrones kinda gal.” Pam said, waggling her eyebrow at Dean.

“I’ve heard that’s good. I’ve never seen it though.” Dean said.

“Ah it’s amazing! Good content, a lotta sex. We’ll have to marathon it sometime! Maybe you can convince these other asshats to join us! I’ve been trying to get them to watch it for ages! Charlie is the only one who was willing to watch it with me!”

“It wasn’t actually that bad!” Charlie said with a shrug while everyone else grumbled and rolled their eyes dramatically.

Finally, Dean turned to Donna and asked, “What about you?”

“The Walking Dead, Lord of the Rings and Sherlock mostly. I’m a simple kinda gal.” Donna said with a smile. “But I just can’t get over how perfect Benedict Cumberbatch is.”

Dean smirked but bit his tongue. She was right Cumberbatch was amazing.

Before Dean could ask any more questions he heard a gravelly voice behind him say, "What’s up nerd."

He didn’t even have to turn around to know who was talking to him. Instantly, a shiver went down his spine and shot straight into his pants. That voice did things to him that nothing else could.

 _‘Calm the fuck down!’_ Dean scolded himself as Charlie exclaimed, “Hey Castiel!”

"Hey Charlie!" Cas replied. Dean could hear the smile in the boy’s voice as he spoke.

"You two know each other?" Dean asked curiously. If he wasn’t mistaken, Charlie had told Dean when they first met that her and Cas didn’t really know each other. Dean wondered if she had lied to him in order to learn what Dean really thought of Cas.

"Yeah, after his last concert we started talking in class. We’re in English together.” Charlie had this soft smirk playing on her lips as she talked to Dean. Instantly, Dean realized that Charlie was getting closer to Cas in order to help set the two of them up together. Charlie was a sneaky son of a bitch.  _‘How can she ship us so hard already?’_ Dean thought to himself.

“You wanna join us Cas?” Charlie asked, looking back to Cas with a look of curiosity on her face.

“Sure why not!” Cas said, glancing at Dean and making him melt in his shoes. Dean was sure that Cas would be the death of him, and the kid didn’t even have to touch him.

The whole table shifted, making room for Castiel to sit down. Dean’s mind completely blanked as Castiel squished in beside Dean at the school lunch table. He could feel Castiel actually leaning into his body. Dean was pretty sure that he going to have a heart attack before he even had a chance to properly date the kid.

The world around him seemed to fade, everything else dissolving except for Castiel’s body heat radiation over him. Cas seemed like a furnace, although that could just be Dean over reacting. It was probably both. Even though the two of them had kissed the night before Dean still felt extremely shy and nervous being around Cas. Especially in public like this. Dean had no idea what to say to Cas. His heart was thudding in his chest so loud that Dean was sure everyone around him could hear it.

“How are you doing Dean?” Cas asked softly, looking at Dean with a warm smile on his face.

 _‘Of course he can act perfectly normal.’_ Dean thought to himself.  _‘Cas is too confident to panic over something as stupid as talking.’_

“I-I’m doing pretty good. A little tired I guess” Dean answered. The others around them had all slipped into their own separate conversations. It gave Dean and Cas time to chat which Dean appreciated greatly. Apparently they had all met Cas before so no introductions had been necessary. “What about you how have you been?”

“Well, I’m doing great!” Cas exclaimed, a small glint in his eye. His voice grew even lower as he said, “I mean, I’m kinda sitting next to this kid who might just be the hottest guy in the school.”

Dean’s face flamed up. He looked around them nervously, but none of the others were really paying attention to them. Dean was thankful for that.

Cas smirked at the red flush on Dean’s cheeks. He was clearly enjoying fucking with Dean like this. Then, Cas whispered, “And hey, you wanna know a secret?”

“Uh… okay…” Dean replied nervously. “That hot guy I’m sitting next to, well somehow I got lucky enough to date him.”

Dean had to look away. The genuine passion in Castiel’s voice and the look in his eyes was just too much for Dean to take. He felt like he had lost the ability to breathe. If he didn’t remember soon then he was gonna end up passing out on the lunch room floor from a lack of oxygen.

“Well I think I’m really the lucky one here.” Dean whispered back, somehow finding the words that were lodged into his throat. “I mean, just between us, I’m dating this really hot guy in a killer rock band.”

Cas smirked at him and winked. Instantly, Dean felt his heartrate pick up again and he almost started to feel light headed.

“Ya know, it was really great getting to let loose with you last night.” Cas whispered. “I don’t get to do that all too often.”

Dean cocked his head to the side and said, “You don’t?”

Cas shook his head. “Not really. School and music keep me pretty damn stressed out. Not to mention that I’ve gotta keep my asshole brother and Balthazar from catching their dicks on fire.”

Dean snorted at that and said, “Well, maybe they’d start thinking with their upstairs brain then.”

“Doubtful.” Cas said with a soft laugh, “Those two pricks would still find a way to get their dicks to work.”

Dean smiled and shook his head in disbelief. Somehow his nerves were starting to ebb away. Talking with Cas was a lot easier than Dean had expected it to be. Their conversation was just so causal. It was like they had been friends for years. Dean could tell that Cas was trying to make him feel more comfortable and he appreciated the effort.

Looking into Castiel’s bright blue eyes, Dean suddenly had the urge to lean in and kiss him right there. It honestly took all of Dean’s strength not to reach out and grab the other boys face. That would be one hell of a way to come out of the closet. Dean secretly wondered what Cas would do if he kissed him right here.  _‘He’d probably push my away and act like I was nuts.’_ Dean thought to himself.

Eventually, Dean had to look away from Cas all together. He wasn’t sure how strong his self-control actually was. Today was not the day that he wanted to test that out.

“Oh shit, here come the vultures…” Ash snorted indignity, breaking into Dean and Castiel’s tense silent moment.

Both of them looked up to see what Ash was talking about. In the crowd of school kids, Dean could see a gang of girls heading towards their table. These were part of the ‘Castiel stalking clan’. They all practically fought each other in order to win Castiel’s affections. Clearly their strategies weren’t working to well.

“Hurry, start talking about hardcore nerd stuff!” Jo exclaimed, stifling a laugh behind her hand as the group of girls got closer. “Maybe we can scare them away with our nerd talk!”

“Harry Potter vs Lord of the Rings!” Charlie exclaimed, looking around them, also trying not to laugh. “Which one is better and why? Go.”

Instantly, Cas jumped in by saying, “Harry Potter kicks Lord of the Rings Ass!”

“How so?” Kevin demanded.

“The movies are shorter for one!” Cas said, “So are their books!”

“How is that a positive argument?” Kevin demanded. “Wouldn’t you want more content?”

“Not all crammed together like that!” Cas exclaimed.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Kevin gasped in shock.

“Everything.” Cas said with a wink while Kevin shook his head in disgust.

Dean tried to focus on the conversation but all he could hear was the girls behind them getting closer. He swore that he could hear their heels clicking on the linoleum floors even over the voices of people.

“What about if it was fanfiction?” Jo demanded. “There are some really long, but well written fanfics out there.”

“Depends on how good it is!” Cas told them. “But that’s different; you can’t compare fanfiction to the actual books!”

“Heyy Castiel!” Came a sickly sweet voice from behind them. Castiel’s stalkers had reached them and instantly killed the mood at the round table full of nerd.

“Hey Lisa…”Cas said, turning slightly to look at the tall dark haired girl standing beside them. Cas apparently knew her voice so well that he didn’t even have to look to see who it was.

Lisa was kinda like the unofficial leader of the bitch clan. She had a huge cluster of girls who loved her and hung of her every word. However, Lilith, Ruby, and Bella were the only three girls who actually hung out with Lisa constantly. Dean didn’t know what people saw in Lisa. She was a horrible person and treated all her friends like shit.

Dean fought back a scowl as he turned and looked at the girls now standing around them. He forced himself to look up at them, but was shocked to see a new girl in their group. Apparently Lisa had recruited another girl to the bitch club. As soon as Dean made eye contact with her, he regretted his decision. This new girl had long dark hair and deep dark eyes. Immediately Dean felt repulsed by her, but he couldn’t understand why. She was a very pretty girl, but there was just something about her that made Dean uneasy. He quickly noticed that this girl couldn’t take her eyes off of Dean. He wished that she would just stop staring at him already it wasn’t helping reduce the discomforting he was feeling.

“How are you Cassy Boo?” Lisa asked, calling the attention back to her. Even as Lisa spoke, Dean could still feel the new girl watching him.

“I was fine until you interrupted my conversation.” Cas said, his voice dripping with irritation.

“Awe, you don’t have to be snippy Cas. I just wanted to introduce you to the new student. She’s just moved here from Nebraska and I’m her tour guide. I promised that I’d show her  _all_  the glories of our school.”

“Sorry to rain on your parade and all, but Cas isn’t a tourist attraction so move along bitches.” Charlie snapped, fire flaring up in her voice.

“Don’t mind the lesbian.” Lisa sniffed with a roll of her eyes. “She’s a very confused individual.”

Dean quickly turned and grabbed on to Charlie as she tried to jump up from the table. Here mouth was pulled into a scowl as she stared down Lisa. Dean was sure that if he let Charlie go, she would start a fight on the cafeteria floor. He was sure that Charlie would win the fight easily, but he wasn’t ready to let her get suspended from school.

“Takes one to know one douche nozzle.” Charlie snapped.

“In your dreams princess freak!” Lisa said with a smirk.

“Oh just go back to you stripper poll, bitch.” Charlie sneered. “I hope you get paid well, because I’m sure that face doesn’t bring in too many customers.”

Lisa face turned bright red with anger as she flipped Charlie off. “Nobody asked for your opinion lezbo.”

“Look gang, we don’t want any trouble here so if you could just scoot along that would be great!” Donna said with a look of anger on her face.

“Listen here Mrs. Country hick. How about you fuck off.” Ruby chimed in glaring at Donna angrily.

The other girls around Lisa snickered. They were such stupid assholes. Dean didn’t know how anyone wanted to follow Lisa. She was a bitch to everyone.

“Anyways, Cas,” Lisa said, turning her attention back to Cas as she put on her fakest smile. “I want you to meet Amara Dark.”

“Nice to meet you.” Amara said with a cool smirk playing on her lips. The entire time she spoke she couldn’t take her eyes off of Dean. She was watching him like a hawk. Dean just wanted her to go away. He didn’t like her.

“Listen here Amara.” Charlie said, looking at the new girl. “I know you’re the new girl and you don’t really know anyone yet, but I’ll be the first to tell you that the group you’re with now is the wrong one. You should run. Run as fast as you can.”

“Thanks for the tip, but no one tells me what to do.” Amara sniffed arrogantly. “I make up my own rules as I go along.”

“Your funeral.” Charlie scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

“So, now that you’re done gawking at Cas, do you think you could maybe leave us alone?” Jo demanded.

“We were already planning on leaving. Your nerd stick is getting pretty hard to tolerate.” Lisa sneered. “Cas, are you coming?”

Cas shook his head slowly, glaring at the girls as he said, “No. I think I’m staying here, but you four go on ahead.”

Lisa let out a dramatic sigh and rolled her eyes. It was like she was expecting Cas to follow her every command. Cas wasn’t Lisa’s bitch. The chick seriously needed to get a life.

When the girls finally left Pamela whispered, “Is anyone else feeling some serious bad juju from that Amara chick?”

Dean nodded quickly. She was not someone that Dean wanted to encounter again anytime soon.

“I make up my own rules.” Ash said, mimicking Amara’s high voice. “Bitch shut the fuck up, nobody cares.”

“Hopefully she doesn’t come back anytime soon.” Cas grumbled. It seemed like a dark cloud had suddenly moved over his head.

Why did Lisa have to ruin everything? The conversation between him and Cas had been going so well too. Lisa was a serious asshole.

Dean couldn’t help but feel a deep sinking in the pit of his stomach. This day had started out stressful, became better, and now it was turning to shit. Not to mention that Amara had left him with a nasty feeling that made him just want go home and take a shower.

“I hate those douche bags!” Charlie fumed. “Someone needs to shove their self-righteous heads up their prissy little asses.”

“That can be arranged.” Pamela said with an angry snort.

“You know, I think Amara had the hots for Dean.” Kevin said, speaking up for the first time in a while.

“Ughh… please don’t say that.” Dean moaned. He had hoped that it had just been his imagination. Apparently he hadn’t been the only one to notice Amara’s staring at him.

“I’m serious! Once she saw you, her eyes never left you. It was kinda freaky.” Kevin mused.

“Stoppp!” Dean begged, “It makes me feel dirty just thinking about it. I really don’t like her. She was like she was gonna fucking kidnap me or something.”

Beside him, Cas had stiffed. His eyes were narrowed slightly, as he listened to what Dean was saying. Cas was jealous. Dean’s heart thrummed excitedly in spite of the situation. Cas was actually jealous that someone else was giving Dean attention (not that he wanted it).

“I don’t like her either.” Cas nearly growled.

No one else but Dean noticed the underlying sound of possession that filled Castiel’s voice. Dean couldn’t help but shiver at how hot that idea was. He loved the idea of Cas being overly possessive and protective of him. Dean only wished that he could kiss Cas right then and there to get rid of the dirty feeling that Amara had left with him.

She was bound to be trouble. Dean could already tell.

Their rants about Lisa and Amara were soon cut short as the class bell rang, signaling everyone to go to class.

Before they parted ways, they all agreed to meet back there for lunch.

As Dean stood he whispered a soft, goodbye to Cas, brushing the sides of their legs together, before they parted ways.

Cas smirked happily at Dean and winked as he said, “See ya later nerd.”

 _‘He had to stop winking at me!’_ Dean thought to himself.  _‘If he keeps that up, I’ll have to skip class and drag his ass into an empty classroom so I can kiss the shit out of him.’_

Dean’s heart was beating erratically as he thought about ditching school and just hanging out with Cas all day. Maybe one day they would actually do that. He had never skipped school before so it would a thrilling change to his boring life.

His thoughts were interrupted as Charlie practically skipped alongside of him. Apparently she had already forgotten about the run in with Lisa and her crew. Or maybe there was just something else on her mind.

As soon as Charlie opened her mouth Dean knew it was the latter.

“Okay! Spill it Dean! I’m dying to know what happened between you two!” Charlie burst out grasping onto Dean’s arm eagerly.

Dean felt his face flush a deep shade of red as she clung to him.  _‘I’m gonna need like ten blood transfusions a day if I keep blushing so much…’_ He thought to himself.

“I- I’m not sure what-”

“Nope! Don’t play stupid with me Winchester!” Charlie exclaimed. “I saw how he was looking at you a few minutes ago! That’s not how friends look at each other!  _Something_ happened and I need to know what it was!”

“Not so loud Charlie!” Dean hushed her, looking around with a worried look on his face.

Charlie sniggered and said, “Whose gonna be listening? I can barely hear our own conversation, so I’m pretty sure no one else can.”

“Just… please Charlie.” Dean pleaded. “Stay quiet okay.”

“Alright alright.” Charlie said, raising her hands in surrender. “But you’re gonna spill the beans.”

“Fine.” Dean grumbled. “We kinda… I dunno. We hung out for a while and working on music shit. It was pretty great.”

He was trying to give as few details as possible. Dean felt like if he vocalized what had happened he would just wake up to find out it was all a dream.

“Dude you know what I mean! Did anything  _happen_ between you two?” Charlie pressed. It was clear that she wouldn’t stop until she had legitimate, concreate details _._

“We… kinda… well… we….” Dean stopped he was stammering over his words and blushing furiously.  _‘Why does our classroom have to be all the way at the other end of the earth?’_ Dean thought to himself bitterly. He needed an escape from this awkward situation, but there was no hope of safety in sight. Just his luck.

“Oh my God!” Charlie gasped clasping a hand over her mouth and making Dean jump in surprise.

“What?” Dean asked, looking around and wondering what could have made Charlie react like that.

“Did you guys do it?” Charlie exclaimed. “Please tell me you got laid Winchester!”

“I- what? Jesus Charlie! No!” Dean stuttered. He hadn’t been prepared for that. ”No! I didn’t now shut up Charlie!”

“Are you sure?” Charlie pressed.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that I’m still a virgin.” Dean told her in exasperation.

“Damn…” She hummed, falling into silence. “Well  _are_  you gonna tell me what  _did_ happen then? Otherwise I’m just gonna keep guessing here.”

“Okay, okay calm down.” Dean told her. He took a deep breath before finally breathing… “We… kissed. Well… more like made out for an hour… or two so-”

Dean was interrupted by Charlie squealing with joy. Taking a quick glance around them, Dean saw that a few people were giving them strange looks as they walked past them.

“Charlie!” Dean snapped. “What did I tell you about being quiet?”

“I’m sorry Dean. That’s just so, you guys are so- gahh! You guys are so adorable!” Charlie gushed. “Was it magical?”

Dean smirked, feeling a little more confident now as he said, “Yeah… it was pretty great.” Castiel’s lips had been so soft and warm; they felt like the best thing in the world.

“I knew that kid wasn’t a  _total_  straight shooter.” Charlie whispered to Dean. “I told you!!”

“Yeah yeah shut up Charlie.” Dean said. He was trying to seem annoyed with her but that was easier said than done.

“So, what’s the deal with you two then?” Charlie asked, sobering up a little now. The excitement of the situation died down a little as she went back to digging him for info.

Dean shrugged shyly as he said, “I guess we’re giving dating a try….” He admitted.

Charlie’s eyes sparkled with joy as she looked up at Dean. It was like Christmas had come early for her.

“That’s awesome Dean.” Charlie told him. “You guys will be great together.”

“I hope so…” Dean said wistfully. He wanted their relationship to be just how he imagined it.

“It will be Dean.” Charlie told him as she reached out and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

“Can you kinda keep that to yourself though Charlie?” Dean asked, hoping that she’d understand why.

“Obviously! My lips are sealed!” Charlie told him. “I swear on vintage collection of Star Wars Movies.”

Dean snorted and said, “Okay, I believe you.”

“You guys are so adorable though. I can’t believe it!” Charlie cooed as a smile spreading across her face once again.

“Just get into the classroom.” Dean said in exasperation as he brushed past her and entered into their class.

“Nu uh! You can’t get rid of me that easy Dean!” Charlie bubbled, following Dean to his desk.

Dean watched, holding back laughter as she plopped into the seat directly beside him. Their teacher, Naomi didn’t give assigned seats, but Dean knew the kid who sat there was gonna be pissed that Charlie took his seat. For now however, Charlie was free to sit wherever she wanted to.

A few minutes later the kid who normally sat beside Dean came up to Charlie and said, “Uh… you’re sitting in my seat.”

“I don’t see your name on it.” Charlie responded, giving the kid a quick once over.

“So? That’s where I sit.” The kid told her.

“Well, maybe you should get to class faster next time.” Charlie answered causally.

Dean was pretty sure that Charlie could take this kid if she had too. It was obvious that she wasn’t giving up her seat and apparently the kid got the message too. He stormed off grumbling about classroom respect or some shit like that.

“That’s how you win a seating war my friend.” Charlie said, turning to Dean with a triumphant smile.

Charlie’s smile was suddenly wiped off her face and she glared at something over Dean’s head.

Dean turned around in confusion, wondering what could have pissed off Charlie that quickly. Maybe Lisa was standing behind him, leering over him or something. When Dean turned, his heart sunk. He wished it had been Lisa standing behind him. Lisa was two desks away, already sitting down and working on her first reapplication of her ten pounds of makeup. As Dean looked up at the person behind him, his heart sank.

It was Amara.

“Hello Dean.” Amara said with a smile.

“How do you know my name?” Dean demanded. He was pretty damn sure that the only name that had been exchanged this morning was Castiel’s.

“Lisa told me.” Amara explained. “Do you mind if I sit here?”

Dean was silent, yeah he minded if she sat at the desk beside him, but what was he gonna say - _bitch don’t you dare sit there-._ Dean just couldn’t be mean to someone he just met.  _‘You can’t be mean to anyone in general you asshat, you’re too soft for that.’_ Dean reminded himself. Besides, if he did anything mean to someone he ran the risk of getting his ass handed to him by his bullies.

Before Dean had a chance to think about an answer, Amara had already taken her seat at the desk.

“Uhm, yeah he does mind actually.” Charlie said, speaking for him.

“Really? I don’t think he does.” Amara said sneering at Charlie. “I didn’t hear him objecting.”

“Because he’s two nice to tell you off you stuck up bitch.” Charlie snapped.

“Charlie.” Dean said in a hushed whisper. “It’s fine. Leave it alone okay?”

“But-”

“Charlie, stop.” Dean said, interrupting the redhead before she had a chance to get herself in trouble. It was great that she was defending him, but he needed to stand up for himself every so often.

“See. He doesn’t mind.” Amara said, with a triumphant little smirk on her lips as she glared at Charlie. “I can tell you and me are gonna be great friends Dean!”

Dean wanted to cry. He didn’t want to be best friends with Amara. This chick seriously needed to go back to Nebraska.

On Dean’s other side, he could feel Charlie burning a hole in the side of his head. She was staring at him hard, with a look of betrayal on her face.  _‘Great, it’s not even 9am and I’ve already pissed off my best friend.’_ Dean thought to himself.

It was getting clearer and clearer to Dean this morning was going to be just as bad as all the others.

Today was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Song: Not Alone- Red


	7. Blessed with a Curse

The rest of class seemed to pass by at an agonizingly slow pace. It was like father time was working against him.

Each ticking sound made by the clock seemed like canons firing throughout the room. The sound of echoed in his ears and created a distracting hum in the room.

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as they slipped down his face.

When the bell rang to signal the start of class Abaddon gave the room a withering look. Instantly, everyone who made eye contact with her cold dead stare fell silent. Within seconds, all the sound had been sucked from the room.  The way that she seemed to drain the life and happiness from her students reminded Dean strongly of a dementors kiss. She didn't even have to say a word to silence a room of rowdy children. The fear of her wrath was enough to wither even the boldest student.

Through the chilling silence Abaddon looked down at the list of student names in her hand. In silences she took the roll, noting everyone who was present.

Dean watched as her dark eyes flicked up towards him. His heart froze in his chest as she leered at him. The look lasted for less than a second but Dean still felt paralyzed. He tried his best to shake of the remnants of Abaddon’s icy glare as she now turned her attention to Amara.

The tension grew thicker as Amara and Abaddon stared each other down. Amara didn't even flinch at the menacing look she was receiving from the teacher. Any smart student would have looked away by now. Everyone was scared to challenge the beast within their teacher. They all just wanted to make it out of this class with their sanity intact.

Amara seemed to already have lost her sanity.

It was like Amara thought she was above the teacher. You could feel the defiance radiating off of Amara like a dark storm.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, Abaddon pursed her lips and harshly asked, "Amara, would you like to come to the front and introduce yourself?"

"Duh." Amara said with confidence as she stood, finally looking away from Abaddon.

Dean could hear the silent gasp from everyone else around him. Amara was like fire, and she was testing the waters. Little did Amara know, Abaddon was a pack of volatile fireworks. The smallest spark could set her off and leave detrimental damage to anything in its path.

As Amara strode towards the front of the room, she ran her fingers slowly along the surface of Dean's desk. Dean internally flinched away from her as she swayed her hips. He assumed that she was trying to be seductive, but it was doing nothing for Dean. If anything, it just made him want to get away from her even faster now.

Dean chewed on his lip in silence as he tried to look away from her. From the corner of his eye, Dean say her look back over his shoulder to see if he was looking at her.

 _'Oh my God please leave me alone!'_ Dean thought to himself.   _‘I’m not interested.’_

Amara stepped in front of the teacher's desk while Abaddon sat behind the desk.

Amara allowed her eyes to sweep over the classroom once. Her dark amber eyes narrowed, stopped briefly on Charlie before giving a sickly sweet smile as she locked eyes with Dean.

Dean was praying that she would stop staring at him. It was making him beyond uncomfortable, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away. Apparently she hadn't been taught the rules of politeness up in Nebraska.

He could feel his glasses slipping down his face once again, but Amara’s gaze held him captive. Dean seemed to have lost control of his fingers. Sweat beaded up on his face, which only made his glasses slide even more. 

"Okay go ahead and introduce you introduce yourself." Abaddon said lazily. If Amara didn't say something soon Abaddon was gonna get pissed and send her back to her seat. It was clear that she didn't really give a shit if Amara introduced herself or not. This was just an excuse to for Abaddon to waste time without spending time teaching.

On the desk, Dean’s fingers twitched. Dean felt himself start to have a panic attack. _‘No no no please not now.’_ Dean silently begged. _‘Please not here.’_

He could feel himself start to hyperventilate. Dean was usually better and holding back his panic attacks, but Amara seemed to bring out the worse in him. Dean’s heart was pounding loudly against his ribcage. He swore that it was about to pound right out of his chest.

"So, my name is Amara Dark. I'm from Nebraska but I was forced to move to this hell-like place known as Lawrence, Kansas." Amara's face darkened as she said the words 'Kansas'. "However," She started back up as her face brightened again. "I'm starting to think that moving down here wasn't such a bad idea." Amara was staring at him with something almost resembling an animalistic lust.

Dean's heart faltered, but not in a good way. He could feel himself start to reach the peak of his panic attack. The world around him seemed to spin and he felt like he was on the verge of passing out. He hoped that she wasn't talking about him. He didn't want to be the 'bright spot' for this bitch. It was easy to see that Amara thought she was better than everyone here in Kansas and she apparently had no problems speaking her mind. Dean didn’t need drama like her in his life. Things were already stressful enough for him.

As his stomach churned in disgust Dean finally forced himself to look away from her. The moment he broke eye contact with her Dean reached up and pushed his glasses back onto his face. Now, instead of looking back up at Amara, Dean focused instead on the pencil scribbles all over his desk. He traced the patterns absently, refusing to look up her anymore.  Maybe she would just get his point.

As his eyes traced the meaningless scribbles, he tried to slow his heartrate. He took several deep, slow intakes of breath and tried to steady his shaking fingers.  Dean quieted the world around him and retreated into his own mental reality. This was one of the only ways Dean was able to ever calm down after a borderline meltdown. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a panic attack this bad. Dean was just happy that he had managed to remain conscious. He had a sneaking suspicion that Amara would have tried to perform CPR on him. There was no way in hell that he was letting his lips get anywhere near hers.

Unfortunately, Dean didn’t think his strategy was working very well.

Even though his eyes were cast away, Dean could still feel her penetrating gaze on the top of his head as she said, "I can't wait to get to know you better."

Dean wasn't sure if it was just his imagination overreacting, but judging by the tone in Amara's voice, she was talking directly to him.

When she was done speaking, Dean listened to the clicking of her shoes as she walked back towards her desk. From the corner of his eye, Dean watched Amara trail her fingers across his desk again before sitting back down.

Once everyone was settled again, Abaddon finally took over and droned on about government policies and the stock market.

On a normal day, Dean was pretty good at paying attention in class (even in Abaddon’s class), but today, he just didn't have it in him. Instead he drew little scribbles on the corners of his paper and tuned out everything around him.

Dean had thrown himself into what Sherlock Holmes would call his ‘Mind Palace’. He needed a small break from reality right about now.

When the classwork was passed around, Dean re-centered his focus to his work. It took all of his strength not to look to his right and see if Amara was still watching him. He was focusing so hard that he barely noticed when a note landed on his desk.

Quickly he thought back to the last note that he had been passed. Abaddon had caught him and made him read Lisa’s note in front of the whole class. His best bet was just to ignore the note all together. Then nobody could get hurt.

It was only when something hit him in the side of the face that Dean finally looked to see who was fucking with him. Clearly they were trying extra hard to get his attention.

Immediately he was met with a pair of green eyes that were filled with concern.

Charlie's brow creased with worry before she nodded towards the square of paper on his desk. Dean pursed his lips and glanced up at the teacher. She was too busy putting her chicken scratch writing up on the board to notice what her students were doing. If Dean was fast, he should be able to read Charlie’s note Abaddon caught him.

Carefully, Dean drew the paper closer to himself and opened it.

_'Hey, you okay?'_

Dean quickly scribbled under her writing,  _'I'm fine.'_

Then he slipped the paper back over to her.

A few seconds later the paper came back saying,  _'you look like you're about to puke. Oh God- you're not gonna puke are you?'_

Dean rolled his eyes but smiled a little. He could hear Charlies voice going from concern to disgust as she thought about him barfing in class.

 _'I told you, I'm okay Charlie. Honestly.'_ He wrote quickly.

 _'We need to talk ASAP.'_ Came Charlie's response.

Dean looked up at her and nodded, then slipped the paper with their conversation into his pocket so no one would catch them.

Then, stupidly, Dean glanced to his right, forgetting the Amara was sitting at the desk next to him.

His eyes scrunched in confusion when he saw her just staring at him. Her lips were pursed in distain. He quickly broke eye contact with her and tried to listen to what Abaddon was teaching. He didn’t need to have another panic attack today.

This was how Dean spent the remainder of class. He was left in a state of uncertainty, not really focusing on anything at hand.  

The bell at the end of class sounded like a blessing to Dean's ears. He didn't think he had heard a sweeter sound in his entire life (well, except for maybe Castiel’s perfect voice).

Dean hurriedly jammed his glasses back up his nose and slammed his books into his backpack. He felt like the flash as he nearly ran from the room.

Dean moved so fast that he ended up being one of the first people out of the classroom. Normally, Dean waited until everyone else left just so he could avoid the shoving match in the doorway.

"Dean!" Someone called from behind him.

Dean was too anxious to care who was called for him. All he knew was that he needed to get as far away from that classroom as he possibly could.

"Fuck Dean, slow the hell down!" Charlie gasped as she suddenly appeared beside him and grabbed at his book bag. Her own book bag was slung over one shoulder while her hair resembled a bird’s nest. She must have fought her way through the sea of people to get to him.

"Sorry Charles..." Dean said apologetically.

"You jumped up like a bat outta hell!" Charlie told him breathlessly. "I swear to God if you don’t tell me what’s wrong I'm gonna to spoil the end of every book you read or any show that you start watching."

"Oh God, please anything but that!" Dean gasped. He couldn't help but smile a little bit as he spoke. Charlie sure knew how to make a good threat. To hide his embarrassment at his hasty retreat, Dean pressed on the center of his glasses to stop their slow slide down his face.

"Then you need to talk to me! I'm not trying to be that annoying friend here, but I can see how distracted you are and I want to help."

"Alright, I might be a little distracted but can this wait until a little later?" Dean begged. He didn't really want to pour his heart out to Charlie, but she wasn't really giving him the choice. Postponing the discussion was about the only thing he could do at this point.

Charlie pursed her lips. It was obvious that she wanted to talk now, but Dean wasn't really in the mood for it. He just wanted to get through this day, hang out with Cas, maybe get to kiss him stupid and forget about the rest of the world. That was what Dean wanted more than anything else at the moment.

Charlie seemed to pick up on his grumpy mood so she let the subject drop. "I can work with that. We just need to talk soon." She placed a comforting hand on Dean's arm and added, "Just keep your head up, alright?"

"Thanks Charlie." Dean said. He hadn't realized just how close to his next classroom they had already gotten. It must have been because Dean had gotten a head start getting out of his last classroom.

Before they parted ways, Charlie pulled Dean into a deep, comforting hug.

Dean rested his chin on top of Charlie's dark red hair and held her tight. She had no idea how much this hug meant to him.

 _'Thank you Charlie.'_ Dean thought to himself. Out loud, Dean whispered, "You're awesome Charlie." Just loud enough for her to hear him.

"I know." Charlie said. Dean could hear the smirk in her voice.

Her persistency was more than a little irritating, but Dean knew that she honestly had his best interests at heart. He liked that about Charlie and he could see the two of them being lifelong friends. Dean only wished that the two of them had met earlier.

Dean pulled back from the hug and kissed the top of Charlies head. For once, Dean didn't care what others around him were saying; all he cared about was thanking Charlie for what she was trying to do. 

"Well you better get in there." Charlie told him, looking past Dean and into the classroom.

Dean sighed and turned. He really didn’t wanna go to Naomi’s class. Dean just wanted to get to his physics class so he could see Cas.

“I love you.” She whispered as a spark of light gleamed in her eyes.

Dean smirked down at her and said, “I know.”

Instantly, Dean knew that Charlie understood the Star Wars reference. Her bright, eager smile said it all. It was nice having someone nerdy to understand all of his corny fandom references.

It was so easy talking with Charlie. Dean could tell that he became an entirely different person around her. Even when he was around Cas. Dean felt a bond with the two of them. When he was with Charlie and Cas Dean felt accepted. He had friends who understood him and enjoyed his stupid remarks. He was no longer, lonely, friendless Dean Winchester. He became nerdy, happy, sociable Dean Winchester (though he still felt a little insecure around Cas).  It was an incredibly freeing experience.

“God, I seriously need to take you to a comic con convention.” She sighed.

“Just give me a date and a time and I’ll be there!” Dean teased happily.

Charlie winked at him and smiled as she said, “Of course! Princess Leah needs her Luke Skywalker!”

Dean chuckled and as Charlie turned and started off down the hall. “See ya later Charlie.” He called after her, his smile still evident on his plump pink lips.

“Catch ya later nerd. Keep your chin up!” Charlie called back as she vanished down the hall.

Dean watched her go until her flaming hair was lost in the sea of bustling students.

He let out a long low breath before turning and walking into class.

Much like his last class, Dean didn’t really focus very well. This time however, it wasn’t because Amara was stressing him out. This time his main stressor was Cas. They had their next class together and time was running against him. Instead of focusing on his teacher, Dean’s eyes were trained on the clock counting down how long it would be until he got to see Cas again.

His nerve endings were alight with excitement when the dismissal bell rang. When he reached the outside of the classroom, Dean stopped, taking a few deep breaths to steady himself.

When he finally felt ready, Dean entered the class. He smiled with ease when he saw the back of Castiel’s black raven hair.

Cas greeted him happily when Dean reached their lab table. "Hey." Cas said cheerily as he looked up at him with a huge dorky grin.

"Hey Cas." Dean said. He felt his cheeks warm slightly as he smiled shyly back at Cas. Dean pushed his glasses up his noise as he quickly looked away from those perfect blue eyes. They stood out even darker than normal since Cas had ringed them with dark eye liner today.

As he sat, Dean couldn’t help glancing back up into Castiel’s his eyes. He let his eyes slowly trail downwards to look at those beautiful lips and shining white teeth. Castiel’s sliver lip ring only emphasized the perfection of his lips.  He wanted nothing more than to kiss those stupidly perfect lips and feel the press of metal against his own mouth.

"How's your morning going so far?" Cas asked.

Dean opened his mouth to say something, but he paused. _'How is my day going?’_ Dean thought to himself. It certainly had a bit of a rough start… although Castiel’s presence makes everything better.

When Cas looked at him strangely Dean finally said, "Well... we can just say that it's better now that I'm here."

"What happened Dean?" Cas asked as concern filled his voice.

"Nothing. It's doesn't matter Cas." Dean lied as he used a smile to mask the truth.

"You can't lie to me nerd. What's wrong? I wanna help." Cas said, seeing through Dean’s disguise. The thin layer of eyeliner that he wore around his eyes made Cas look almost scary as he looked at Dean intensely.

A movement from the door caught Dean's eye and momentarily distracted him.

He groaned internally as he made eye contact with none other than the one who was causing him so many problems.

Dean quickly turned away from her and whispered to Cas, “You wanna know what my problem is? Well, she just walked through the door.”

 _‘Why does she have to be in this fucking class too? Come on…’_ Dean thought to himself furiously.

He already had to sit through one class with that bitch, now he had to sit through another. At least he had Cas with him. That made it slightly better.

“Is that bitch still bothering you?” Cas asked, with a dark look at the girl who was walking closer to them. His dark look turned darker as his eye focused on Amara like a laser.

“She’s just a bit annoying.” Dean told Cas, refusing to look over at Amara.

“Want me to say something?” Cas asked, immediately putting up his defense.

“Don’t you dare.” Dean hissed. “I don’t need a reason to piss off more people.

Cas sat back, still wary of Amara, but he no longer looked like he was going to jump at her. “Just let me know if she messes with you okay.”

“Cas everything is fine. I swear!” Dean exclaimed.

“Promise me Dean. Promise me.” Cas said with an intense look on his face. “You will tell me if Amara does something to you right?”

“Yes, yes, okay I promise Cas.” Dean hissed. Amara was nearly by their desk now and Dean didn’t want her to know what him and Cas had been discussing.

“Hey Dean.” Amara cooed. “Looks like we have this class together too.”

Her eyes darted to Cas then back to Dean. There was something dark and cold hidden in those deep amber eyes. She made Dean uneasy, but he had to put up with it, at least for a little while. It unnerved Dean that she didn’t even flinch under the territorial gaze of Cas. Amara just acted like Cas was nothing more than a disgusting bug to be squished.

“Yeah. I guess so.” Dean said stiffly as he looked away from her dark eyes. He really wanted to punch her now. No one looked at Cas like that and got away with it. Not on his watch anyways.

Beside him, Dean could feel how tense Cas was. It was like he had gone on the defensive. Dean wasn’t exactly sure why Cas was so protective over him. _‘I mean, why should he care?’_  Dean thought to himself. _‘We aren’t even openly dating so there should be no reason for him to be so protective over me. Why would anyone want to protect me? I’m no prize.’_

Dean only hoped that Cas had enough sense to stay in his seat. He figured that they would have a hard time explaining why Cas attacked the new girl. Dean was pretty sure that saying, _‘she looked at the guy I’m secretly dating and I didn’t like it’_ would not be an acceptable excuse.       

“Is this class good?” She asked him, lingering by their desk as she clearly tried to start a conversation with him.

“Yeah.” Dean grumbled. He wasn’t really interested in chatting with her. She had been kinda a bitch earlier and Dean didn’t like to associate himself with people like that. It was hard enough avoiding his bullies so the last thing he needed was some random, two faced chick fucking with him. “I enjoy it.”

“Is it hard?” Amara asked, pressing him for more answers.

Dean had to fight the urge to roll his eyes at her as he said, “Well, I dunno.  I mean this _is_ an AP class, so it’s harder than normal classes. It’s pretty easy for me, but it just depends on how much you like the subject.”

He let his sarcasm flow into his voice slightly has he spoke. Dean wasn’t really sure why, but being with Cas gave him more confidence. He wouldn’t have added the sarcasm into his voice if it had just been him talking with her.

“Oh. Well. I’m probably gonna fail them.” Amara said with a shrug that clearly showed just how much she cared.

Dean sighed deeply and moved to turn back to Cas. _‘I really don’t give a rat’s ass if you pass or fail.’_ Dean thought to himself. _‘Can’t I enjoy my God damn class in peace?’_

“Hey… so maybeeee…” Amara spoke up again, leaving dramatic pauses in between her words. “Maybe, I won’t do as bad if I had a tutor who knows what he’s doing.”

“Sorry, no. He’s already tutoring me.” Cas suddenly barked from beside Dean.

“You can’t share?” Amara said, with a fake pout forming on her thin red lips.

“No.” Cas said flatly. “We need a _lot_ of time to study. Like, we study hard _all night long_. ”

 _‘God Cas do you even listen to how things sound before you say them?’_ Dean thought to himself. It was clear that Cas literally just said whatever crossed his mind without a second thought.

Dean gave a sideways glace to Cas and saw a small smirk on his lips. Instantly, Dean felt his face flush. Castiel had meant for that sentence to sound that way. He hid his embarrassment by adjusting his glasses. They always provided him with an easy distraction.

Amara looked two seconds away from throwing a bitch fit when their teacher Jody Mills finally called her class to order.

Throughout most of the class Cas continued to stay grumpy and angry at Amara much to Dean’s annoyance. Dean wished Cas would just calm down. Why was everyone getting so pissy over Amara? Couldn’t they just leave him to deal with his own problems?

Suddenly, Dean got an idea. He was tired of sitting next to grumpy people today. Why should he let Amara ruin what was supposed to be a great day?

Tearing off a small corner of paper from his notebook Dean began to write a note for Cas.

When he was done writing, he slipped the piece of paper over to Cas. There were only two words on it.

_‘Guess what.’_

Cas looked at the paper curiously then looked over towards Dean. There was amusement and confusion reflected in his eyes. Apparently Cas wasn’t paying much attention to the teacher either.

A second later, Cas slid the note back along the table.

 _‘What?’_ Cas had replied.

Dean smirked and lowered his pencil towards the paper. He paused with the pencil tip pressing into the white paper. The dark led stuck out against the bright white sheet.  

 _‘Am I really gonna say this?’_ Dean thought to himself. He could barely think of saying out loud, and writing it down wasn’t much easier.

Dean glanced towards Cas who was watching him from the corner of his eye. Cas was trying to see what he was writing without letting Jody see what they were doing.

Dean’s heart was pounding in his ears as he finally decided to write his response on the piece of paper. He was sure that everyone in the school could hear the pounding on his heart as he slid the paper back over to Cas. Dean could feel the warmth radiating from his face as he flushed a dark shade of red.

Cas looked down at the paper and read what Dean had written him. He stayed like that for a very long time, not moving as his eyes repeatedly scanned the paper.

Dean thought he had gone too far. Maybe Cas hated him now. Dean had written, _‘I really wanna kiss you right now.’_

Maybe Cas didn’t like how direct Dean had been. Had he done something wrong? Dean’s mind was a swirling mess as he looked straight ahead, focused solely on the whiteboard at the front of the room.

 _‘Don’t look at him.’_ Dean tried to tell himself. He didn’t want to see the rejection in Castiel’s eyes. He knew that this thing between them was too good to be true. Who knew what Cas was going to do with that little strip of paper. Maybe his plan all along had been to get Dean to admit he was gay so his sexuality could be openly exposed at school.

What Dean didn’t expect, was the firm press of Castiel’s leg into his own underneath the table.

Cas had shifted his leg so it was now pressing hard into Dean’s.  Seconds later, Castiel’s hand slid off the desk and clamped down onto Dean’s upper leg. Castiel’s fingers squeezed his leg momentarily before dropping away all together. Dean felt like his body was ready to explode. He could still feel where the hot handprint of Castiel’s fingers had been only moments ago. Every nerve ending felt alive. It was like he was on fire in the middle of an icy storm.

When Dean finally looked over at Cas, he found the other boy already staring at him. His eyes were dark and lust blown. Dean was shocked to see that most of the blue had been covered by dark aroused pupils. They sat there motionless for what seemed like years. A strong, yearning tension built between the two of them and the air grew thick enough to cut clean through with a butter knife.  It seemed as if a static charge had built up in the air around them. Dean knew if something didn’t happen soon, than he’d probably start making out with Cas right here in the middle of class. Then… well who knows what might happen after that.

Just when it felt like everything was about to implode, Cas looked away. All at once the spell was been broken and the magic was gone. It was like a giant vacuum had entered the room and expelled the building feelings.

Dean took a shaky breath, only now realizing that he had been holding his breath for the entire time. Slowly, he shifted in his seat, taking note of the boner that was calling his attention in his jeans. Somehow before the end of class he was gonna need that to go away. There was nothing more awkward than walking around school trying to hide a boner.

 _‘Think of something other than Cas.’_ Dean thought silently to himself. He already wasn’t focused on the lesson, why should he start paying attention now? Dean had bigger problems to deal with anyways.

He fought to clear his mind and slowly took deep breaths of air. Dean let his mind wonder, refusing to think of Cas until it was safe to do so. 

While in his ‘Zen mode’ Cas broke his concentration by sliding that piece of paper slowly back across the table towards him. Dean watched it move slowly closer, wondering what Cas could have written back to him.

Dean sat transfixed, staring at the white paper for a second before slowly reaching out and picking it up.

He unfolded it slowly before reading, _‘You really shouldn’t do that to me in class. I’ve got a bit of a –situation- going on down there.’_

Dean instantly felt his face flame up as he blushed. Apparently Cas was hard too just because Dean said he had wanted to kiss him. The note had gotten a better reaction than he had expected it would.

He didn’t know if he should feel awesome or guilty for giving Cas a boner in class. Dean smirked slightly, decided that he wouldn’t feel guilty about it as he wrote on the paper again. _‘Oops. ;)’_

Dean passed the paper back. His own boldness surprised him, but he had to admit that it was a little bit empowering.

Beside him, Cas gave out a little huff of frustration as he shifted in his seat. Dean looked over at the boy and found his dark eyes glaring back at him. There was a slight blush blooming over Castiel’s cheeks that made Dean smirk with pride.

 _‘For once I’m not the one who is blushing.’_ Dean thought to himself.

Cas shifted in his chair once again, the looked back down at the paper. He scribbled furiously the pushed the paper back over to Dean.

_‘Go to the band room after class.’_

Dean’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looked back over at Cas.

Cas just winked and tapped on the piece of paper. Then, the boy glanced at the clock and stood up. Jody Mills had just started handing out the homework when Cas approached her. He whispered something to her before she wrote him up a bathroom pass and sent Cas on his way.

Dean glanced up at the clock and saw that there was only five minute left in class. He hadn’t realized just how quickly the time had passed.

When the bell rang, Dean packed up his shit like everyone else and bolted for the door.

 _‘Band classroom.’_ Dean thought to himself. _‘I need to get there before someone else finds me first.’_

Dean didn’t usually deviate from his normal path, that was the only way to avoid getting snagged up by one of his bullies. Dean knew which bullies would be where and when they would be there. That was the most effective way of avoiding them. Now that he was leaving that old beaten trail, Dean had no idea who he might run into.

Somehow, Dean made it to the room without a hitch. He hadn’t even had to stop and talk to Amara. It was great.

When Dean walked into the band room he found it empty. He didn’t even see Cas. ‘ _Maybe he’s setting me up?’_ Dean thought silently. Maybe he fetching my bullies so they can beat the shit outta me for thinking I was cool enough to pass notes in class.

“H-hello?” Dean called out uncertainly. “Anyone in here?”

He avoided calling out Castiel’s name in case someone he didn’t know was in here. They’d wonder why he was calling for Cas. Cas was too cool to hang out with someone like Dean.

“You came!” called a voice from a far corner.

Dean spun around and saw Cas emerging from behind a small bleacher area. That was where their school band practiced on rainy days.

“’Course I did.” Dean said. “I wouldn’t just leave you hanging!”

“Good.” Cas breathed, getting closer and closer to Dean by the second. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

Before Dean knew what was happening Cas was pulling Dean into a long, deep kiss in the middle of the room. As the kissed, Dean felt his glasses sliding up his face. They bit uncomfortably into his face, but Dean was too happy to care.

The other boy’s hands clutched the side of Dean’s face and held them together. Castiel’s tongue moved with skill and finesse, running along Dean’s lips until he parted them. It was strange feeling the tongue piercing in Castiel’s mouth but that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy it. Dean still couldn’t believe just how great kissing was. He had been missing out on so much. He could taste the metal in his mouth, but Castiel’s skilled tongue made him forget all about it. Their tongues proceeded to engage in a competitive battle for dominance and control.

Dean lost himself in the feeling, still lost in wonder at how nice the act of kissing felt.

As they kissed, Dean let his hands snake down to Castiel’s hips to pull him closer.

They broke apart breathlessly, staring deep into each other’s eyes. They were both lost in wonder as they memorized each other’s faces. Every time they kissed it was like the very first time (although now it was a lot less awkward).

“I don’t think I could ever get sick of kissing you.” Cas breathed as he dragged Dean over to the band bleachers.

“I don’t think I could get sick of it either.” Dean whispered back as he let himself be led by Cas. While they walked, Dean reached up to fix his glasses. They were left sitting crookedly on his face after their kiss.

“Good, because there is gonna be a lot of it.” Cas told him, dragging him behind the bleachers.

Dean chuckled and chewed on his own lip in excitement.

When Cas looked into his eyes again Dean saw a look of amusement on his face. “Really?” Cas asked as he tried to hold back a laugh.

“What?” Dean asked in confusion.

Cas stayed silent, but lifted his hands to grip the frames he had just fixed. Dean felt Cas slip the glasses off his face. He shivered when Castiel’s hands lowered and slipped the thick black frames into his pocket. “You really don’t need these when we’re kissing. They just get in the way.”

Before Dean could say anything else, Cas grabbed him again and resumed their kissing session.

Dean was really getting into the action. Cas was unbelievable. Dean was still in shock that Cas wanted to be here with him.

Suddenly, Cas used his strength to turn Dean and press him against the back wall. As Dean was pressed into the wall, Castiel’s fingers moved up to tangle his fingers into Dean’s hair. Dean tried to bite back a moan as Cas tugged on his hair sharply. He wasn’t sure how, but the more that Cas pulled his hair, the better the kissing felt.

Cas stopped kissing Dean momentarily as he moved his mouth towards his ear. Dean chewed on his lip; his eyes squeezed shut as Cas began to softly bite at the soft shell of his ear.

Dean’s hands clutched hungrily at Castiel’s hips as Cas whispered, “Come on Dean, don’t hold back. I wanna hear all those delicious the noises you make.”

Dean nearly came in his pants as Cas breathed into his ear. That time, Dean couldn’t hold back his moan as he hissed, “Fuck Cas.”

“There we go. That’s what I wanted to hear.” Cas chuckled, rewarding Dean by moving back to kiss his lips.

Between kisses Cas moaned, “God, I so don’t wanna go to my next class.”

Dean groaned in disappointment and said, “Why did you remind me?”

“We could ditch ya know.” Cas chuckled as he ground his hips into Dean’s.

“Can’t…” Dean panted, as he bucked back against the other boy. “I’ve gotta keep my record clean.”

Cas snorted and said, “Please, I can make sure your record is still clean.”

“How?” Dean asked, while Cas placed a line of kisses up Dean’s neck and continued to played with his hair.

“The how isn’t important.” Cas chuckled, as he traced patterns onto Dean’s skin. “I just know a lot of people.”

Dean was about to press the matter more, but Cas distracted him by pulling down the collar of his shirt and sucking hard on the exposed skin.

A long low moan was ripped from Dean’s throat as the dark haired boy sucked a hickey onto his shoulder.

“St-stop…” Dean choked between moans.

Immediately, Cas pulled back, his cool confident air suddenly fractured. His dark lust blown eyes looked at him with uncertainly, wondering if he had gone too far.

“Did I… did I do something wrong?” Cas asked nervously.

Dean chuckled lightly and said, “No. That feels amazing. Honestly, but I can’t walk around school with a huge ass hickey on my neck.”

Castiel’s face immediately, relaxed. His look of concern smoothed and his mouth curved into a smile. Cas began to laugh as he said, “Well I figured as much, so that’s why I pulled your collar down. When I’m done, your shirt will cover it up.”

Dean laughed softly and pulled Cas in for another kiss. Cas was seriously the most amazing man on earth.

He had never been happier in his life. Dean was pretty sure that being with Cas was the equivalent of heaven. Cas was the physical representation of all the pure hearted angel’s in heaven.

Dean wasn’t sure how long the two of them were there for. It felt like only second, but when the warning bell chimed, Dean realized that he had only five minutes to get to auto shop.

“Stay here with me…” Cas begged Dean as he tried to escape from Castiel’s addicting kisses.

“I can’t Cas.” Dean said with an apologetic look on his face.

“I can get you out of class. Just stay here with me all day.” Cas pleaded, reaching around Dean and slipping his fingers into Dean’s back pockets.

Dean felt Cas massaging his ass and he wished that he didn’t have to go to class. Cas made him not want to do anything except kiss ever again. It really wasn’t helping that Cas was now digging his fingers into Dean’s ass and pulling their bodies even closer together.

“Another time.” Dean told Cas, biting his own lip to hold back moans. “We’ll skip the whole day next time.”

Castiel’s eyes lit up as he said, “Really?”

“Yes, really.” Dean replied, “But seriously, I need to go now.”

“Fine…” Cas sighed, pulling his hands from Dean’s pockets and backing away.

Cas turned and bent slowly, waggling his ass in Dean’s direction as he picked up Dean’s backpack. While Cas bent over, Dean pulled his glasses out of his pocket and slipped them back onto his face.

Dean let out a small noise of approval as Castiel’s tight ass became clear. He couldn’t help but let the noise slip free. The moment that Cas turned to look at him  Dean averted his eyes.

“What? Are you scared to look at my ass?” Cas teased as he handed Dean his book bag. He could hear the smirk on Castiel’s face.

Dean laughed shyly and said, “Well, let’s just say that walking around with jizz in my pants for the rest of the day isn’t exactly high on my list of priorities for today. I just barely got rid of my boner.”

Castiel’s face broke into a wide smile and began to laugh as he said, “Fair enough.”

As Dean shouldered his book bag, Cas said, “Well, you better get a move on nerd.”

“Aren’t you going to class too?” Dean asked, looked at Cas with confusion.

Cas had also picked up his book bag, but he was still standing well behind the bleachers.

“Yeah, but I’m gonna let you leave first. People might suspect if two guys walk out of the deserted band room.” Cas explained.

“But what if you’re late for class?” Dean asked him.

Cas shrugged and smirked. “I’m always fashionably late.” He snickered. “Now get outta here nerd. See ya at lunch.”

Dean smiled at the raven haired boy and hurriedly rushed from the band room and blended in with the quickly thinning crowd outside in the hallways.

As Dean rushed through the hallways he thought, _‘God, how did I get so lucky?’_

Cas wasn’t an asshole, he wasn’t a self-centered dick, and he always had a plan of action. He even seemed genuinely interested in Dean. That was something he wasn’t used to. He was quickly discovering that he didn’t mind the attention though. Dean needed some more positives in his life.

For the first time in a long time, Dean’s mind wasn’t filled with negative thoughts as he walked through the hallways. It was like a strange peace had filled his body. Dean wasn’t fighting through panic attacks; he wasn’t worried about who was going to see him or who he would see. Dean was simply at peace for once.

As Dean pushed his way through the auto shop doors, the final class bell rang.

“I should send you to ISS boy.” Bobby scolded Dean, as he walked through the door.

“Sorry Bobby…” Dean mumbled, with a guilty smile on his face.

“Why were you so late ya idjit?” Bobby asked.

“I… I just got held up… talking with someone.” Dean replied. What he was saying wasn’t completely a lie, but it was as close to the truth as he was willing to go.

Bobby took a step closer to him and asked in a low voice, “None of them damn boys were messing with you this time were they?”

Dean shook his head and said, “No, nothing like that. I was just talking with a friend.”

Bobby gave him a look of suspicion that made Dean squirm uncomfortably. It was like Bobby was trying to see through the bullshit and learn the actual truth. After a second Bobby just rolled his eyes and grunted, “Get to work son, go work on that ol’ junker over there.”

Dean turned to see where Bobby was looking. He grimaced slightly when he saw the old Honda Civic that no one ever touched. So far, no one who touched her had been able to get it working again. Dean on the other hand knew that he could get her running again. However, in Dean’s eyes, the machine was just an unattractive, undesirable car. He had no real motivation to fix her up. Maybe Bobby would let him modify it once it was running again.

“Can I do whatever I want to it when I’m done?” Dean asked curiously.

“Only if you can get it running son.” Bobby said with a serious look. “But you know how long she’s been sitting there.”

Dean knew as well as anyone in this class that the Honda had been sitting there for a minimum of four years. He also knew that the car was from the year 2000, although he wasn’t quite sure how long it had been since the machine ran.

At the moment though, Dean didn’t care. All that he cared about was customizing her when he was done.

“Awesome!” Dean said eagerly, “I know I can get her running again.”

Bobby smirked and said, “Well, if you’re so confident about this, then this is the only car you can work on until she’s fully functioning again.”

Dean’s jaw dropped slightly and he saw a couple of the other boys look up at him with smug looks on their face. This was going to be a tedious job, and Dean didn’t want this car to become a lengthy project. He had other things he wanted to work on.

The other kids were all ready to see Dean fall through on a project. Bobby made all the other kids listen to his lengthy lectures on cars and rebuilding them. Dean on the other hand could rebuild an engine with his eyes shut.

Bobby had once said that he was born to build cars and Dean truly believed that his teacher was right.

The other kids were envious of Bobby’s favoritism and that Dean didn’t have to listen to the lectures. Bobby kinda just let Dean do whatever he wanted and everyone else hated him for it.

“Are you serious?” Dean asked in shock.

“What do ya think ya damn idjit?” Bobby said sarcastically. “Course I am. Now get to work son, you’re wasting daylight.”

Dean bit back a groan on exasperation as he moved towards the hunk of shit car.

“You’re gonna be my bitch now.” Dean grumbled, fighting the urge to kick the junky white car.

Dean tossed his book bag to the side and pulled out a pair of headphones. He quickly put on his classic rock playlist and got to work.

Though he already detested his newest project, trying to fix the car still effectively made the time pass by pretty quickly.

Once Dean got into the zone, there was very little that could distract him.

He was humming along to some Bob Segar when someone tapped on his shoulder.

Dean jumped violently, and barely avoided slamming his head into the hood of the car.

He whipped around, fearing that someone was going to try and fight him.

Instead, Dean saw the face of Balthazar smirking at him.

Dean tugged the earbuds from his ears, breathing heavily from the shock of Balthazar scaring him as he said, “Jesus, you can’t do that to me man!”

“I’m sorry. Am I interrupting something?” Balthazar drawled, lazily leaning against the piece of shit car.

“Yeah, kinda.” Dean said with arched eyebrows.  He pushed on his glasses with grease coated fingers. “I was totally in the zone man.”

“Ah, oh well. Now you’re not.” Balthazar said shrugging slightly.

“Clearly.” Dean said, pretending to be irritated with Balthazar.

“You need a hand mate? I’m kinda bored with Ol’ Man Singers rambling.” Balthazar said, as he gestured over his shoulder towards Bobby and the other students.

“Did he see you walk over here?” Dean asked, looked towards Bobby.

“I dunno. I just got bored.” Balthazar said with a shrug.

“I’m not exactly the biggest team player when it comes to working on cars.” Dean explained.

“Are you a team player with anything?” Balthazar asked as he leaned into Dean’s personal space bubble.

“Sometimes.” Dean said with a smirk.

Dean could tell that Balthazar was an annoying little shit, but he didn’t mind hanging around with him. He was interesting company to say the least.

Balthazar leaned even closer and whispered, “Dean, you do realize that sex involves teamwork right.”

Dean’s eyes widened and shock and his jaw hung slightly agape as he looked at Balthazar.

His lips were twisted in a smug smirk and his eyes were lit with humor. Dean felt a blush creeping up his face. He knew that Balthazar was implying him and Cas.

“Shut up.” Dean muttered, working hard to busy himself with fixing the car.

“Just trying to be helpful mate.” Balthazar shrugged.

“Well if that’s your definition of helpful, then go be helpful somewhere else.” Dean mumbled.

Dean heard Balthazar chuckle at that. “I like you. You’ve got sass kid.”

“I think you have enough for all of us.” Dean said with raised eyebrows.

“I see why he likes you.” Balthazar said. “He honestly hasn’t shut up about you since our last concert.”

That stopped Dean in his tracks. He looked up at the blonde haired boy and asked, “Are you serious?”

“Dead serious.” Balthazar told him honestly. “It gets a little old after a while. There has been a few times where I wanted to punch him in the fucking gob just so he’d stop with his constant yammering.”

Dean laughed and shook his head. He hadn’t really expected Cas to say much about him.

“Honestly, if I have to hear about Dean Winchester’s perfect green eyes or his amazing arse one more bloody time I think I’m going to jump off a damn bridge.” After a moment of silence he added, “Or better yet, I’ll just toss him over instead.”

Dean’s cheeks flushed again. “He doesn’t really say that does he?”

“Why would I lie? It’s rather fun telling his secrets and making you turn scarlet.” Balthazar said with a soft shrug. “By the way, are you as good at snogging as he lets on?”

“Okaayy… and we’re done here.” Dean said avoiding Balthazar’s eyes as the blonde leaned closer. “You can leave now.”

“You can’t be serious.” Balthazar teased.

“I am though.”  Dean said, looking up to glare at the other kid.

“What are you gonna do? Hit me with that wrench?”

“Bitch I just might.” Dean said, brandishing the tool in his hand menacingly.

“Oh you’re so terrifying.” Balthazar mocked, rolling his eyes for emphasis. “Class is almost over anyways, so I guess I’ll leave you to your work.”

“Is it really?” Dean asked, looking towards his watch.

“Yep. I suppose time really flies when I’m around.”

“You wish.” Dean snorted.

Balthazar simply winked and snuck back over to the group of students as Bobby finished up his lecture for the day.

Slowly, Dean put away his tools and grabbed a rag to clean off his hands. He grimaced slightly; grease and grime coated his hands, and there was dirt wedged underneath his nails. He really should be wearing gloves, but they made working on more delicate parts more complicated.

Once Dean had scrubbed his hands clean, he found Balthazar standing close by again.

“Want a partner to walk up to lunch with you?” Balthazar asked as he tossed a rag into the waste bucket.

Dean shrugged, “Why not.”

This would help prevent him from getting his ass kicked. If there were a lot of other people around his bullies would leave him alone, at least for a little while.

“So, are you looking forward to your first concert with the Fallen Angels?”  Balthazar asked as they walked towards the door.

Dean paled slightly and nervously asked, “Well… when is it?”

“’Bout a month, give or take.” Balthazar told him casually.

“I... I dunno…” Dean whispered. “I mean, we haven’t even done one practice yet…”

“You should have nothing to worry about! Cas tells me you sing like a god.” He grimaced and added, “That’s another one of those things Cas can’t stop talking about.”

“What can’t I stop talking about?” Came voice from beside Dean.

Dean turned quickly and saw Cas casually walking towards them.

“Well look what the pussy cat dragged in.” Balthazar chuckled, “What are you doing out here mate?”

“I came to walk to lunch with you guys.” Cas explained.

“Fantastic. Where are you guys sitting? The couple’s booth?” Balthazar snorted.

“Hey, come on man, keep your voice low.” Cas scolded.

“My bad.” Balthazar said, looking around and quickly changing the subject. “So have you two met the newbie yet?”

“You mean Amara?” Cas asked darkly.

“Sounds like you have met her them.” Balthazar pursed his lips in distaste.

“Unfortunately.” Dean grumbled.

“She sure is a snobby little twat isn’t she?” Balthazar sneered.

“You can say that again.” Dean complained.

“I think Lisa and her group of bitches are the only ones who actually like Amara” Cas said.

“I think you might be right about that mate.” Balthazar agreed.

As Dean walked between Cas and Balthazar he spotted Lucifer and Michael up ahead.

They were lounging against the concrete walls near the vending machines. When they caught sight of Dean they leered at him evilly. They looked like they were ready to beat him to a pulp. Dean swallowed hard and glanced at Cas from the corner of his eye.

From what he could tell, Cas had already spotted the boys and he was giving them both a death glare. Dean was very glad that he wasn’t on the other end Castiel’s glare, because if looks could kill, Michael and Lucifer would be long dead by now.

Dean adjusted his glasses again. It gave himself something new to focus on.

 _‘Is this why Cas came to walk me to lunch?’_  Dean thought to himself, as he tuned out conversations taking place around him. _‘Maybe Cas just wanted to make sure I was safe!’_

He was greatly enjoying all these sweet, happy thoughts, but like usual, his brain began to taint their beauty.

 _‘Maybe he’s just gonna turn you over to them and help them kick your ass.’_ He thought quietly.

Dean shook his head slightly, trying to force these thoughts from his mind. _‘Remember what Balthazar said. Cas talks about you all the time. That has to mean that he actually cares about me right?’_

Dean was far from an expert on relationships, but he didn’t really have any other way to describe Castiel’s level of kindness towards him. Nobody was every nice to him.

“What’s up with the angry eyes mate?” Balthazar asked. Apparently he had noticed the shift in Castiel’s mood too.

“Those guys are assholes.” Cas growled.

“Let’s not stick around here.” Dean said nervously. He didn’t need any excuse to draw Michael and Lucifer over to them.  “All the lunch lines will be too long if we stick around.”

“Oh shit, you’re right.” Balthazar gasped, as he instantly surged forward towards the rapidly lengthening lunch lines.

 Cas laughed softly and shook his head watching Balthazar go.

“You know you didn’t have to come down and walk me to lunch.” Dean said softly.

“What, and let you walk up here all alone?” Cas scoffed.

“I would have been okay.” Dean lied. He probably would have been attacked by Michael and Lucifer again, but Dean refused to admit it.

Cas gave Dean a skeptical look and said, “Well, either way, I don’t mind. I like walking with you.”

Dean smiled shyly blushing lightly as the two of them got in line to order food.

They maintained a light and cheery mood as they ordered food and eventually made their way towards a lunch table.

As the wove through the other students in the lunch room Cas turned to him and asked, “So, what did you do in auto shop?”   Before Dean could answer Cas smirked and added, “Were you late?”

Dean smirked. “Nearly, I made it just in time. It’s a good thing my teacher kinda likes me. But my teacher did give me a piece of shit Honda to work on.”

Cas laughed and asked, “It can’t really be that bad can it?”

“Oh it’s bad.” Dean said with a look of distaste on his face. “No one has been able to fix it yet, and it’s been sitting in the back of our auto shop since my freshmen year. I swear he gave me this project just to prove that even I can’t fix every car.”

 “You’ve got this.” Cas said with a confident smile on his face. “Prove him wrong Dean.”

Dean smiled back, he hoped Cas was right. He would love to finally start proving people wrong. All his life he had simply conformed to society by hiding away inside his own personal bubble. Now that he was with Cas and joining a band it felt like he was somehow breaking all the rules. He was a nerd, the school punching bag. He wasn’t supposed to get opportunities like this.

Dean would never admit this out loud, but he was scared about the uncertainty that the future held for him. Another part of him got a high out of the feeling. Now that Cas had come into his life that uncertainty just grew even bigger.

Dean let his eyes trail across Cas, who was a half-step ahead of him as he walked. His shoulders were held strong and he seemed to walk with a sort of cool confidence. Dean bit his lip to hold back a moan as he watched the smooth way that Castiel navigated through hordes of people.

Cas seemed almost unfazed as the passersby gawked at him.  Dean could see the respect and envy glinting in their eyes as he moved. He knew this look well, because it was the very same expression that he used to wear when he looked at Cas. They all wanted to bask in the glorious light that seemed to radiate from his very core.  To say the least, Cas was hard to miss is a large crowd of people.

As Dean watched the people in the cafeteria, he saw their looks sour. It wasn’t hard to guess what had their faces changing from awe to disgust. It was because of him. Nobody liked him and they didn’t try to hides it either.  Dean was certainly no golden boy like Cas. Dean knew he was nothing more than that annoying piece of gun that gets stuck to your shoe.

His dark thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud female screech.

Dean’s head whipped around just in time to see Charlie rushing towards him.

Before he knew it both Dean and Cas were being dragged off by the eager redhead.

Both Dean and Cas were trying to hold in fits of laughter as they attempted to balance their food while keeping pace with Charlie.

Dean was relieved when Charlie finally let go of their arms. Charlie had led them straight to the same table from the morning.

Dean smiled down at the familiar faces beaming up at him and Cas. It was a very welcoming sight and made Dean sigh with happiness.

Since they only had a limited time to eat, Cas and Dean hurriedly sat down and joined the others.

Dean listened with joy as they all participated in playful banter with one another. It was like this group was a little family. They even joked with Dean, easily accepting him into their group.

Dean tried his best to ignore the smug look that Charlie kept giving him and Cas. He knew that she was never going to get over the fact that the two of them had actually gotten together. Dean was positive that tonight Charlie would be blowing up his phone, asking a million questions and begging for details. He supposed that’s what friends were supposed to do.

His last class of the day luckily passed quickly and much more peacefully than he was used to. He was happy to say that there were no more run-ins with Amara or any of her gang. Even math class with Crowley didn’t seem so bad today. Although that might have partly been due to the fact that Cas was distracting him the whole class by drawing little pictures on his paper (they mostly consisted of dick drawings and little hearts).

When school let out, Cas ushered Dean into an empty classroom for a goodbye kiss, which quickly turned into a make out season.

They only broke apart when Dean’s phone started buzzing relentlessly.

When he checked his messages he found that Sam was spam texting him and asking him where the hell he was at.

“I suppose I gotta get going.” Dean chuckled as Sam sent him message after message.

Cas laughed too, reading Sam’s cranky messages over Dean’s shoulder.

_‘Deannn…. Where are you?’_

_‘Let’s go! I’m hungry.’_

_‘What are you doing?’_

_‘Why aren’t you answering me?’_

Dean’s face turned red as Sam’s messages took on a new tone.

_‘You’re with Cas aren’t you?’_

_‘Tell him I say hi, but I need my brother back now.’_

_‘Are you two making out or something?’_

_‘Oh my God…I swear I am going to kill you if you and Cas are banging each other right now.’_

_‘Can’t you guys do that like in a bed instead of at school?’_

Castiel threw his head back and let out a loud beautiful laugh. Dean was sure the laugh was bound to get them caught, but he was too embarrassed to care.

“I am going to kill that kid.” Dean growled as he buried his face into his hands.

Dean felt Cas wrap his arms around him and pull him into a tight hug.

Cas buried his face into Dean’s hair, planning small kisses onto the top of his head. After a second Cas spoke. “Do you really have to leave?”

Dean pulled away, looking up at Cas sadly as he said, “Unfortunately, I need to get Sammy to soccer practice. It’s his first day and he’s gonna be pissed if we’re late.”

“Text me later?” Cas asked, his eyebrows arching upwards making his eyebrow piercing glint in the dim light of the room. Cas chewed on his moist lips slowly, pulling at the lip ring as his head turned slightly to the side.

“Of course.” Dean answered breathlessly. Around Cas it was so hard to breathe. Why did he have to be so damn adorable? How could a punk rocker guy look adorable? Dean wasn’t sure that he’d ever be able to find an answer.

Cas didn’t even have to do anything and Dean was speechless. His huge blue puppy dog eyes, ringed with black eyeliner were effectively making Dean forget all his problems and his self-loathing.

When he was with Cas, time seemed to just stop. The rest of the world continued to move at a normal pace, but their miniature world froze. It was like nothing could penetrate this bubble that had been created around them.

Cas stepped in to give Dean one final kiss.

Dean closed his eyes in bliss as those soft, hungry lips moved across his. Dean could feel the lip ring digging into his own lip, but Dean didn’t care. If anything, it made the kiss feel even better.

Dean sighed into Castiel’s mouth as he felt fingers knotting into his hair and pulled gently. They were clinging to each other so tightly that it felt like all the air had been sucked from the room.

All too soon the kiss ended and the two of them had to go their separate ways.

Cas shooed Dean out of the room first and he ran off to go find Sam.

He pushed his disheveled glasses back up his face. Dean didn’t have to look in a mirror to know that his clothes were wrinkled and his hair was impossibly messy. Somehow none of that seemed to matter. All that Dean cared about was that he was happy. He wasn’t concerned for someone else’s happiness or someone else’s feelings. These were his feelings.

Somehow, in this fucked up school he had managed to find happiness.

The comping weekend was going to be even better. This weekend would be the first real day of band practice with the Fallen Angels.

Dean couldn’t wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Song: Blessed with a Curse-Bring me the Horizon


	8. Walking on Sunshine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, okay so it has been what, four months since my last update? Damn... I am really sorry about that. I did not intend to go so long between updates. :( My life has been a little bit chaotic this year with school and finals and family thing issues. Rest assure I haven't abandoned this work, not at all, I never abandon a fanfic. I am just updating a little slower than I want to be.  
> Thank you for all the support and encouragement I have received from all of you guys. Thank you for reading and sticking with me. Now that summer is here I have time to write again which means more updates! I hope you enjoy this (very long) chapter and prepare for more to come in the future! (Sorry for any errors within the chapter)

Saturday rolled around much faster than Dean had expected. By some miracle he had managed to avoid getting wailed on by his bullies for the remainder of the week. That was almost unheard of for Dean.  He couldn’t remember the last time that he had gone a whole week without getting punched at least once, maybe he had never gone that long.

Dean had to thank Castiel for this strange calm. Throughout the week Cas had barely let Dean out of his sight for longer than he had to (not that Dean was complaining or anything, he just wasn’t used to it).

Cas had insisted on walking Dean to all his classes. In the morning Cas would walk Dean to first block then rush off to his own class, which was on the other side of the school. Then, when the block ended, Cas would be waiting for him outside of Dean’s classroom, ready to walk him to second block. This pattern continued throughout the day. Somehow Cas always managed to be outside of Dean’s classroom when the bell would ring, no matter how far away his classroom was.

At first, Dean had tried to tell Cas that he didn’t need to walk with him to all his classes, but Cas had insisted. Dean truly appreciated the company; normally he had no one to talk to between classes, so it was a nice change. In the beginning, Dean couldn’t quite understand why Cas was so insistent on walking with him. Yeah, him and Cas were dating now, but it was still a secret and Dean honestly couldn’t understand why Cas would even want to be seen with him.

By the end of the week however, Dean felt that he had put the pieces together. This had to be a result of him getting beat up in the bathroom last week. When Dean thought back over things he realized that had been the last day anyone had fucked with him.

 _‘Seeing me get beat up last week must had really shaken Cas up. I guess he’s guilty and this is how he’s dealing with it.’_ Dean thought to himself. It was the only logical way that Dean could explain Castiel’s sudden reluctance to let him be by himself. Cas probably didn’t really want to be seen with Dean, but this was the only way to clear his conscience. After a week or two Cas would probably stop walking with him, but Dean would completely understand. Nobody in their right minds should want to be seen with Dean Winchester, not if they valued their own popularity and safety anyways.

Dean chose to push that thought aside for the time being. Instead he would just enjoy Castiel’s company (and the break from his bullies) for as long as it lasted.

To make his week even better, Amara hadn’t been at school since her first day. It was like she had just dropped off the map. So Dean didn’t have to deal with her bullshit. That honestly took a lot of stress off of Dean’s shoulders. He wasn’t sure if he could have put up with her flirty crap all week.

Dean assumed that she had probably gotten sick or something. He wouldn’t be surprised if she had picked up one of the many bugs that were currently going around school. In the back of Dean’s mind he hoped that Amara had just decided to drop out altogether. If Dean never saw Amara again, that would still be too soon.

 _'Maybe she died'_ Dean remembered thinking during class one day.

No sooner than the thought had crossed his mind, Dean felt guilty. He couldn’t believe that he let the thought cross his mind.  Yeah Dean totally hated her, but he honestly had no valid reason to want her dead. She hadn’t actually done anything to him; she was just like all the other snobby, stuck up girls at his school. The only difference was that she was showing a romantic interest in him. Honestly, Dean had no idea what Amara saw in him. He was just so plain and boring, she should be running after Cas, Gabriel, or Balthazar like every other girl in the school always did. 

The amount of attention that she had shown Dean was discomforting. He was probably just over reacting like usual, but still… Dean couldn’t shake the feeling that something off about her. As of now, that would be a problem for another time.

Dean knew that he couldn't avoid his problems forever, but he sure would try running from them.

Today was one of those days where he was running from his problems. Dean brushed away his dark thoughts and tried to focus on more positive things, like band practice.  

Today was the first real day of band practice, so he had to be on top of things.

Finally he was going to get a chance to learn some  _real_  stuff from the band and maybe play an easy song or two. He always wondered what bands did during practice.

Though out the week Dean had been practicing a small list of songs on the guitar and he felt that he was actually doing pretty well. During the week Castiel had given Dean short list of easy songs to learn on guitar. Since then, Dean had been using his free time to practice. As soon as he finished all his homework for the day, Dean would be in his room, practicing as much as possible.  He really wanted to impress the others with his playing ability.

Today would be the day that he could finally prove himself to the band. Dean couldn’t wait.

"Come on Sam, get your ass down here or I'm leaving without you!" Dean shouted to his brother from the bottom of the stairs.

"Give me a minute! I'm looking for my calculator!" Sam called back.

"Well hurry the fuck up!" Dean groaned in irritation. “We’re wasting daylight here!”

Like always, Sam was running behind. They weren’t really on any time constraints, Cas had told him to come over any time after two thirty, but Dean was impatient. He was ready to start practice (and see Cas). It was already past three and Dean was growing anxious. He had already texted Cas and told him that they would be headed that way soon, but Sam was taking forever.

Dean would be willing to bet on his car that Sam's calculator was hidden somewhere under a pile of dirty shirts or something. Sam was one of the messiest motherfuckers that Dean had ever met. He was surprised that Sam was even able to find a way to his bedroom door in the morning.

"I'm trying!" Sam shouted back.  Dean had told Sam that he would need to bring his homework to practice. He knew that Sam had a lot to get done, so if he wanted to come to the band practice he would have to at least do a little bit of homework. Sam hadn’t been too happy at the time, but apparently he really wanted to come, so he followed Dean’s instructions with a lost less bitching that expected.

"Try harder!" Dean huffed as he plopped down onto the stairs to wait for his brother.

There was a loud crashing sound followed by Sam swearing loudly. Dean shook his head in disbelief. This is why Sam needed to clean his room more often. Sam’s tall, gangly body made him such a klutz and he was always knocking things over or stepping on something important. You’d think after a while he’d actually try cleaning up, so he could avoid that altogether.  

Dean rested his head on his hands and silently waited for Sam to finally join him. He had to come downstairs eventually.

About ten minutes later Sam came clambering down the stair, his hair a totally mess and his back pack over flowing with papers and books.

"Finally!" Dean exclaimed as he quickly jumped to his feet.

"Shut up jerk." Sam said, smacking the back of Dean's head with his hand as he passed. "I didn't take that long."

"Yeah you did, bitch!" Dean protested as he chased after his brother. Sam tossed his book bag down and quickly sped away from Dean. Sam was much faster than Dean; sometimes he got up extra early in the morning just so he could go running. Sam was such a health nut. Sometimes he tried to convince Dean to go running to, but Dean insisted that watching Netflix was more important than running.

Dean was panting hard as he tried to keep up with Sam, but today, Sam’s clumsiness worked in Dean’s favor.  He was able to catch his brother when he got off balanced and crashed into their kitchen table.  

Dean quickly ruffled Sam's hair messing it up even more before he let Sam go. That was payback for making Dean wait so long.

While Sam bitched at Dean for screwing up his hair, Dean just laughed and grabbed his guitar.

"It was already a mess man. Come on Sammy! Let's hit the road already!" Dean insisted as he started moving towards the doors.

"Well someone is excited." Sam smirked as he picked himself up off the floor. "Are you more excited to play guitar or suck face with your boyfriend?"

"Fuck off." Dean grumbled, feeling his face flush red. Throughout the week Sam had been continually making comments about him and Cas. It was already starting to get a little old. This is why he didn’t want anyone to know about their relationship.

Sam snickered under his breath but dropped the subject, before Dean started to complain.

Dean shot Cas a quick message telling him that they were leaving. Then he ushered Sam into the car they were off, music blaring at full blast.

They reached the Novak house in record time.

When they arrived, Cas, and Gabriel were outside waiting for them. Dean's face broke into a huge cheesy grin as he pulled into the driveway.

Cas looked perfect as usual. His messy blue and black hair falling into his beautiful eyes and his silver body piercings made Dean weak in the knees.

 _‘How was it possible for one person to look so perfect’_ Dean thought to himself in awe.

Gabriel, who was standing beside Cas, started waving eagerly. Gabriel face light up when he saw Sam sitting in the passenger's seat.

Cas was shaking his head and laughing at his brother's behavior while Dean and Sam clambered from the car.

Gabriel ran forward to pull Sam protectively into his arms.

"You didn't tell me that my little moose was coming with you!" Gabriel exclaimed playfully as he narrowed his eyes at Dean.

"Well that's because I didn’t think he was going to come at first." Dean gave a sidelong glance at Sam, "But he insisted on coming so I told him that he had to do his homework."

"Yeah thanks for that mom." Sam smirked and rolled his eyes at Dean.

"Such a kill joy Dean." Gabriel shook his head in shame as he dragged Sam inside. "Making the kid do his homework instead of having fun with us? How dare you?"

Dean followed after them, laughing softly.

When Dean got into the entryway he looked over at Cas. Cas had been waiting for Dean patiently while he joked with Sam and Gabriel, but now that they were closer Cas pulled Dean into a long, soft kiss.

Dean took a deep breath of air. Somehow Cas always smelled of something sweet and intoxicating. It was like a mixture of honey, pie, and the blue berry scented hair dye that he used.

Dean was pretty sure that he could get drunk off that smell.

Their lips moved together in sync as they lost themselves in each other. Dean tried to forget that they were still kinda outside and anyone could see them.

Some small part of Dean's brain told him that he should be worried that someone would see this kissing them while another part of him wanted to hold onto this moment for as long as possible.

In this brief moment Dean tried to pretend that the two of them were a normal couple. A little normalcy in his life would be very nice right about now.

"So are you two bloody idiots gonna start having sex on the porch or are you gonna let me inside?" someone asked from beside them.

Dean jumped in surprise and quickly moved back from Cas. A deep flush grew on his cheeks as he turned to face Balthazar.

"I would have come earlier if I had known there was a show going on." Balthazar continued, laughing as he brushed by the two of them and stepped into the house

"Well you better pay up then, this show ain't free." Cas shot back.

Dean swore that Castiel was blushing now too. He couldn't be sure though since Cas ushered Dean into the house before he could get a good look.

Cas quickly followed Dean inside and shutting the front door behind them. Dean waited silently for Cas until he stepped beside him. Then together the two of them made their way into the kitchen with everyone else.

"Hey Gabe, hey Long Legs." Dean heard Balthazar say.

"You're actually on time today? Holy shit!" Gabriel said to Balthazar as Dean and Cas joined the others.

"I have my moments." Balthazar snickered. He winked and added, "But hey, don't expect this to be a reoccurring thing."

Gabriel smirked as he popped some food into his mouth.

"Want something to eat Dean?" Gabriel offered as he held something out to him.

"What is it?" Dean asked, stepping closer.

"Brownies!" Gabriel chirped happily.

As Dean moved closer he saw that the entire kitchen counter was filled with various dishes of food. There was pie, brownies, cake, chips, soda and so much more. The counter was almost over flowing with the amount of food that was crammed onto it.

Dean couldn't believe how much food there was.

"Dean you have to try the brownies! Gabriel is an  _amazing_ cook!" Sam said, practically drooling as he spoke. Dean laughed at his brother, he was just as happy as Dean to see this much cooked food. Sam normally wasn’t one to eat a bunch of junk food, but he had his moments. At the moment Sam had a full plate of food in front of him and he was stuffing his face happily.

He and Sam always had a fair amount of food at their own house, but they never bought any of the good, name brand foods or sweets. Normally they just stuck to microwavable foods since it was easier for them, so cooked meals were usually out too. Dean was usually the one to do all the shopping so he had to save money where ever he could. John didn't really leave him much money for the real stuff since he spent most of their cash to fuel his drinking habits.

For all Dean’s silent complaints about their crappy food, John always made sure that there was money to buy food, just not the good brands. Dean was glad that he could keep all of their bellies filled.

"Believe me I know. His cooking is awesome!" Dean said. His mouth began to water just from the memory of that amazing chocolate pie he had the last time he was here. There was no doubt in his mind that Gabriel was a damn good cook.

"Why did you make so much food?" Sam asked curiously, as he looked up at Gabriel.

Cas and Balthazar both laughed while they got platefuls of food.

"This is something you should get used to." Cas said with a smirk.

Balthazar chimed in and said, "Yeah, he does this anytime there is a band practice, or whenever he gets bored."

"Seriously?" Dean asked as he looked towards Gabriel.

"Yep!" Gabriel exclaimed cheerfully. "I gotta keep everyone fed. After all, it sucks to play music on an empty stomach."

"Please," Balthazar snorted, "Your stomach is always empty mate. I swear the only thing you ever do is eat. I can't imagine why you're always so hungry."

As everyone talked, Dean picked up a plate too and began to grab a little bit of everything. He never turned down food, especially pie.

"You're just jealous Balthy!" Gabriel snickered. "Besides, you practically live off my cooking so don't start bitching about it."

Balthazar glared at Gabriel. “How many bloody times to I have to tell you to stop calling me that you prat?”

Gabriel stayed silent but smirked in triumph as he took another bite of brownie.

Cas stepped beside Dean and threw his arms around his shoulders.

Dean turned to look at Cas and found that their faces were much closer than he expected.

Everyone else seemed to fade out around Dean and the only other person in the room seemed to be Cas. He even forgot about the food that he had been planning on eating. The air grew thick and hot as he stared into Castiel's pearly blue eyes. Dean almost felt like Cas was gazing deep into his soul.

Dean smiled and blushed, Cas was too much for him to handle. His eyes dropped down to Castiel’s lips as his tongue darted out to moisten his lips.

Dean almost purred with delight. Everything about Cas drove him crazy. He watched as Castiel's tongue swept across his shiny lip piercing, pulling it into his mouth just a little.

How had he gotten with such an amazing guy? Not to mention that Cas wasn't just an amazing guy, he was  _the_ _guy_ that Dean had been dreaming of dating for year. He was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Something had to give there was no way that Dean could have gotten this lucky. Out of all the hot, beautiful girls at school Dean had gotten with Cas.

Dean knew he looked like a potato compared to the other people at school. Their school was filled with so many hot guys and girls, why had Cas chosen to date him? Dean was still convinced that this was a trick or a dream. 

Maybe his guardian angel was finally helping him out for once. It was about damn time.

Dean's heart was pounding as Castiel leaned in closer. Dean could smell minty toothpaste on his breath as his breath washed over Dean's skin.

Dean chewed on his lip, biting down slightly to hold back his desperate gasp.

When Castiel's lips brushed across Dean's, he felt sparks explode across his body. Their earlier kiss had been interrupted by Balthazar but now they were getting a chance to continue it. Dean had actually kinda forgotten that they weren't actually alone in the room. Cas just seemed to have that effect on people. He could probably make Dean forget his own name if they kissed long enough.

Dean pulled Castiel's lower lip into his mouth as they kissed. He pulled lightly at the piercing on his lip; his tongue tracing it curiously. Since Cas was the first person he had ever kissed, there were still a lot of things he was getting used to.  
The piercing just added an extra twist of thrill and pleasure.

Castiel moaned softly against Dean's mouth as he pulled at the piercing. His tongue ran across Dean's lips, hungrily begging for entrance.

Eagerly Dean parted his lips to allow Cas to have the access that he wanted so desperately.

Castiel's tongue eagerly explored every inch of Dean's mouth. He let the ball of his tongue piercing tickle the roof of Dean's mouth. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before.

The feeling of the smooth metal was driving Dean crazy. He could feel the heat of arousal pooling in his stomach. Dean desperately wanted to take this further than just kissing. He wanted to feel every part of Cas pressing against his body. Dean wanted to trace his fingers along the most intimate parts of Cas. He wanted to take Cas apart with soft touches and open mouthed kisses all across his body. Dean wanted to show Cas just how special he was in the most personal way possible.

Dean remembered just how close they had come to actually doing that the first time he came over here to see Cas. Why had been stupid enough to refuse an amazing offer like that? Dean was such an idiot. What if he never got the chance to do that again?

The sound of someone clearing their throat drew Dean back to reality.

It was as if that noise had broken some kind of spell. All at once Dean remembered that they weren't alone in the room. There were three others in the room, including Sam. Dean felt his cheeks heating up again, but this time it wasn't from arousal.

Dean pulled back, breaking the kiss with Cas.

Cas made a displeased sound as the two of them broke apart.

"Thank God." Gabriel groaned. "I thought you two were actually going to start stripping down right in front of us!"

Dean refused to make eye contact with anyone and forced himself to focus on the untouched food on his plate.

"I thought I was going to be sick once they started using tongue." Balthazar snorted.

"Aw shut up, I know you wanted to be right in the middle of that love sandwich Balthazar." Gabriel teased.

“Yeah, says the one who was gawking at them and practically drooling all over himself.” Balthazar retorted.

Sam just remained silent, and Dean didn’t dare look up at him. He was scared of what he might see on his brother’s face. Dean knew that Sam said he was okay with Dean’s sexuality, but he just had a difficult time believing it.

Dean looked down at the plate of food in front of him chose to stay silent. He leaned forward, his right arm resting along the counter while he moved food around his plate with the left. His face was burning with heat. _‘I can’t believe I just made out with Cas in front of Sam… in front of anyone. What the fuck is wrong with me?’_ Dean thought to himself. He was horrified by his own boldness.

 _‘What happened to my common sense? Just two weeks ago I never would have even dreamed of doing something like that!’_ Cas literally had the power to make Dean completely forget where he was. That was a bad thing. _That was a very bad thing._

Dean couldn’t let himself lower his guard like that. He would be too vulnerable. He couldn’t let that happen, because would only lead to trouble. His own obsession with Cas was dangerous and Dean knew it. He was just having a hard time caring about what the consequences could be.

Dean's shy embarrassment had caused him to kinda lose his appetite. He tried not to linger on his own stupidity, but right now that wasn’t working too well.

After a second, Dean felt Castiel's lay over his. His fingers tangle with Dean's and Cas give his hand a reassuring squeeze. It was like Cas could sense just how upset he was about this.

Dean needed to keep himself in check better next time. He couldn’t let his emotions show like this. That was far too dangerous.

Hesitantly Dean looked up at the other three. His eyes immediately fell onto Sam who looked both smug and disgusted. Dean’s blush grew even deeper as he attempted to read his brothers thoughts. They knew each other well enough to get a pretty good idea of what the other was thinking. Judging by the look on Sam’s face, Dean was pretty sure that he knew what Sam was thinking and he didn’t wanna hear it.

"Don't say it Sammy." Dean grumbled. He knew it was coming anyways, but maybe just this once Sam would keep his trap shut.

His hopes were in vein.

"Say what?” Sam asked his smile growing even larger as he feigned innocence.

"I dunno man… some sort of smug comment about me and Cas." Dean said as he pursed his lips. He knew he should just give up now. Sam was probably just going to say it anyways

Dean’s focus shifted away from Sam for a second as Cas moved closer to him. He could feel Castiel pressing against his side, practically leaning on Dean for support. God… even small touches like this was enough to drive Dean crazy.

Sam laughed, bringing Dean back to the present as he said, "What you mean? Something like, ‘when told you the food was good I didn't mean Castiel's face.’"

Dean flinched and pursed his lips. Yep, there it was, a typical Sam comment.

"Yeah, that’s exactly the kind thing that I meant, bitch." Dean groaned in embarrassment. He covered his face with his free hand and wished that he could just disappear forever.

“Jerk.” Sam retorted. “You’re the one who started sucking face when everyone was eating. I call that payback.”

Dean felt Castiel's lips press against the side of his head.

"Don't let them get to you Dean." Cas said loudly enough for everyone to hear. “They’re just jealous.”

Dean leaned closer to Castiel, although his mind was telling him to take a step away to avoid more embarrassment. Castiel the moved so he could snake one arm behind Dean. His hand came to rest against Dean’s hip. He could feel his fingers curl around his him, holding him close.

Dean had to resist the urge to moan. Castiel’s long sharp fingers were pressing firmly into Dean’s side and drawing little patterns onto his skin.

"So do we need to get you two a room before you start fucking on the counter?" Gabriel asked, looking mostly at Cas now.

"Uh... no... We're umm... we're good...." Dean stuttered. Although, even as Dean spoke he felt his downstairs brain was disagreeing with his upstairs one.

"Yeah Gabe, we’re alright for now, but later on might be a different story" Cas teased Gabriel.

Gabriel gave his little brother a knowing smirk and said, “Yeah whatever you say.”

“Oh my God, just- just stop, please.” Sam muttered as he stifled a snort of laughter. Dean was honestly thinking the same thing as Sam. Gabriel literally said whatever was on his mind, not matter how brash or embarrassing it was.

“What? It’s just sex! Nothing to be shy about!” Gabriel exclaimed the smile on his face growing larger as both Dean and Sam blushed now. Sam was normally pretty bold, and it was hard to make him blush, but Gabriel was truly hitting the mark with this.  “It’s a beautiful, magical act of nature and it feels like pure heaven.”

Dean and Sam were speechless. They had no idea what to say next and their uncertainty hung in their air.

There was a strange tension in the air around them and Dean was sure that everyone in the room could feel it.

In the silence of the room Castiel suddenly reached forward and plucked a chocolate covered strawberry straight from Gabriel’s plate.

The tension broke, and the strained moment passed in a rush of air as Gabriel exclaimed "Hey, get your own." he pointed to a full plate of the treats sitting right beside Castiel's arm. “There are more right there dude!”

"Yeah well, I wanted this one though." Cas said with a shrug.

"You're such as asshole Cas." Gabriel complained as he grabbed a fresh new strawberry. Apparently he didn't see the point in fighting to get his back from Cas.

Dean turned to ask Cas something but his mind blanked when he saw him. He watched Cas in rapt as he ate the strawberry. Dean's mouth actually started to water while Cas bit into the red fleshy surface of the strawberry. He could hear the chocolate shell covering the berry crack as Castiel's teeth pulled at it. He had never known how anyone considered eating food to be sexy, but shit, he totally understood now.

Dean had to breathe deeply to steady himself. ‘ _How the fuck does Cas make eating look so fucking hot? What the fuck? Is Cas even human?’_ Dean’s mind was racing, saving this image in his mind for later.

Dean felt a flash of anger when Cas gave him a sidelong glance. There was a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. Then the fucker winked. He fucking winked at Dean.

Cas was doing this shit on purpose. Cas was actually trying to give Dean an awkward boner in front of everyone. What an asshole, this was going to call for some well-deserved payback later on.

Dean felt a shiver pass down his spine as Castiel’s hand suddenly slid off his hip and into his back pocket. He could now feel Castiel lightly pinching his ass from inside his pocket.  

Cas really was trying to kill him. Dean’s mind was racing and his heart was pounding in his throat now. Cas was going to give him a fucking heart attack by the end of the day.

Dean tried his best to control himself as he nibbled slowly on the plate of food in front of him. He refused to look at Cas now. He just couldn’t, not unless he wanted to be visited by the awkward boner fairy.

Finally, Dean was able to let out a sigh of relief when Gabriel suggested that head into the garage. They needed to get warmed up so they could start practice before it got too late.

Cas slowly removed his hand from Dean’s back pocket, trailing his hands across Dean’s ass just to tease him. Dean shivered and bit his lip to keep from moaning.

Then, the five of them ventured out of the kitchen, full and happy and wandered off to the garage.

When Dean and Sam entered the garage their jaws dropped.

This was easily a two cars into the garage, possibly three if you were a good enough driver. However, it looked nothing like a garage anymore. The garage had been turned into a full on man cave. It seemed like the longer you looked the more details seemed to stand out. The walls were painted a deep gray color with bright colorful LED lights hanging up close to the ceiling. Band equipment was strewn across the room and sheet notes were littering the floor. The room a little on the messy side, but it was almost like an organized mess. Everything seemed to have its place, even the random papers scattered throughout the room.

On one side of the garage, there was a nice drum set, a small collection of guitars and a microphone stand. Along with the instruments, there was also recording equipment that they used to help create their music. Dean knew that Castiel and his family had a lot of money, but damn, that recording equipment alone had to cost a couple thousand dollars at least! They must use some of the money they make off of their shows to buy all of this stuff.

 Moving towards the other side of the room there was a small lounge area to sit down at. It looked very warm and inviting, perfect for song writing or just hanging out and playing cards together. A large rug had been spread out on the floor. On top of the rug were two small love seats that were facing each other. In the middle of the chair was a brown coffee table littered with papers and empty soda cans. There was even a PlayStation 4 nearby, complete with four beanbag chairs and a large flat screen TV. This was literally any teenage boys dream room. Cas and Gabriel had really taken the word 'garage band' and moved it to a whole new level.

"Damn… This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!" Sam said in awe.

Cas snickered and looked around at their surroundings. "Yeah, you can thank Gabriel the idea of setting up shop in the garage. He was the one who wanted to stay out here."

“This is amazing…” Dean practically whispered. This was officially the best place in the world.

“Now you see why I always wanna be over here?” Balthazar exclaimed. “This place is bloody brilliant!”

"Yeah, well it’s great until winter comes. This room isn’t heated very well so we freeze our fucking balls off." Cas joked.

“Eh, technicalities.” Gabriel hummed with a dismissive shrug. “We’re still working on getting some good heating in here.”

“I think I could deal with a little bit of cold if I got to be a room like this all the time.” Sam said with a laugh.

Cas simply rolled his eyes and smirked, “Yeah, we’ll see if you’re staying that when winter comes.”

While the others were distracted Dean shifted slightly closer to Cas. Dean made sure that their arms brushed together and stayed that way. Just being close to Cas helped comfort him though. Dean could feel heat radiating in the space between them. It almost seemed as if there was an electric spark hanging in the air around him.  

They all moved slowly away from the garage door and over to the lounge area on the other side of the garage. As they walked Dean got up his nerves and quickly reached out to grasp Castiel’s hand.  Dean was blushing as their hands tangled together, but he felt a sense of pride that he was able to do this now.

Dean swore that he heard Castiel’s breathe hitch in response, but Balthazar’s began to talk and made it hard for Dean to tell.  

"Well you can thank me for the good taste in decorating." Balthazar said as he turned to look over at Dean as Cas.

There was a cocky smirk on his face as he spoke. Dean watched his eyes dart down to their interlaced fingers which only made the smile grow bigger. Fortunately, Balthazar refrained himself from making any comments at the moment.

"You designed all this?" Dean asked in admiration.

"No, I merely snapped my fingers and let the room design itself." Balthazar said sarcastically. "Of course I designed it, those two wankers have about as much creativity as a naked mole rat when it comes to interior decorating."

Dean put one hand up defensively as he held back a snort of laughter. Naked Mole Rat? Sometimes he wondered how Balthazar even thought of this shit.

"Naked mole rat my ass!" Gabriel shot back with a pout on his full lips. "At least I have a sense of style! I don't wear a dumb V-neck shirt all the time."

"Is that the best comeback you got?" Balthazar sniffed. "I don't think you could find a good insult if it bite you in the arse."

"Oh cram it with walnuts you French douche." Gabriel grumbled.

"Okay, knock it off you two." Cas snapped. He was clearly tired of the pointless bickering. "You two can work out whose junk is bigger later."

 As the playful jabs died down Dean and Cas sat down on one of the loveseats, their hands still laced together.

Gabriel and Balthazar glared at each other but seemed to make a silent truce as they sat down on the other loveseat. That left Sam standing awkwardly in between the two sofas wondering where he should sit.

“There’s space over here Sam.” Cas said.

Cas let go of Dean’s hand and instead threw his arm over Dean’s shoulder instead. Dean shifted closer to Cas so Sam would have some room if he wanted to sit. Castiel’s arm added a nice weight to his shoulders.

Sam made a distasteful look and said, “No offence Cas, but I don’t wanna get stuck beside you guys during a make out session or something.”

“Fair enough.” Cas hummed in acknowledgement.

Sam then grabbed a beanbag chair to sit on instead. It actually looked pretty comfortable. Dean and Sam had both always wanted a beanbag chair.

“Hey, whoa, what are we? Chopped liver? This sofa is the same size as theirs so there is plenty of room over here with us!” Gabriel protested. He patting the sofa he was sitting on for emphasis.

“I’m not so sure about that…” Sam was eyeing the sofa and judging how much sitting room there was. Yes their sofas were the same size, but Gabriel and Balthazar weren’t sitting nearly as close together as Dean and Cas were.

Dean had to agree with his brother on this one. Unless all three of them were cool with snuggling up together, than there would be no room for Sam to sit.

“Trust me Sam!” Gabriel said. There was a pleading look on Gabriel’s face as he spoke.

Finally, Sam let out a sigh and moved closer to Gabriel. “Move your ass over.” Sam grumbled.

However, Gabriel didn’t move over. Instead Gabriel leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Sam’s waist, dragging him down to sit on his lap. Sam let out a surprised squeak of terror as Gabriel pulled him down.

“Gabe!” Sam gasped in shock. “What the hell man?”

“I told you there was room!” Gabriel cackled happily. His arms were wrapped firmly around Sam’s waist and there was a shit eating grin on his face.

“Yeah, I thought you meant next to you, not on you!” Sam complained with a defeated huff. “Your legs are too bony…”

“Tough shit” Gabriel was laughing now. “I mean, come on you’re one to talk; your ass is pretty fucking bony too. “

Sam squirmed on Gabriel lap as he tried unsuccessfully to get himself free. “Come on, why can’t you just let me sit next to you instead?”

“Oh stop your bitchin.” Gabriel said with a snicker. He was still holding tightly on Sam to keep him in place.

While the others were distracted, Castiel letting his hands trail softly along Dean’s leg. From the corner of his eye, Dean could see Castiel start to smirk. Dean was both turned on and horrified. He loved the feel on Castiel’s fingers brushing along his skin, but fuck, the others would be able to see them so easily.  Part of him wanted to stop Cas, but the feeling was so wonderful. In the end, he let Cas continue. Then, to add to the sensation, Cas started to run his fingers slowly along the back of Dean’s neck. If Dean closed his eyes it would be so easy to just fall asleep right here. Castiel made him feel so safe and free.

Castiel quickly but casually pulled his hand away from Dean’s leg when Sam made a loud squeak sound.

Dean looked up to see his brother glaring at Gabriel with narrowed eyes. “I swear Gabriel; you better have a fucking banana in your pocket.”

Gabriel grinned sheepishly up at Sam and said, “Nah, not this time buddy. I’m just real happy to see you.”

“Argh.” Sam groaned and tried to get away again.

Gabriel winced slightly when Sam moved this time, but still refused to let Sam leave. Sam hadn’t missed look that crossed Gabriel’s face so he smirked and said, “That’s what you get for making me sit here douche.”

“Well you shoulda known better Samsquatch! I mean, you squirm around like that on another man’s lap and you’re bound to get a reaction from him.”

Sam rolled his eyes and said, “Will you just move the fuck over? If you don’t I’ll make it so you have to get up and go change your pants.”

Gabriel’s cheeks turned red at Sam’s words. He finally released Sam and scooted over to make room for him.

After some readjusting the three boys were slightly squished, sitting side by side on the sofa. Sam was now in the middle. He had Balthazar sitting on one side and Gabriel (who had his hands halfheartedly covering up the obvious bulge in his pants) on the other side.

“I think were gonna need a bigger sofa now.” Cas joked as he looked across at the others.

“Nah, I think we’re fine little bro.” Gabriel smirked. He removed one hand from where it was covering his crotch and threw it over Sam’s shoulders, “Aren’t we Sammich?”

“Oh yeah… this is wonderful…” Sam grumbled.

Dean couldn’t help but notice that now Sam was blushing too. However, Dean couldn’t tell if Sam’s face was red from struggled to get free or if it was caused by something else entirely.

“Eh, don’t worry mate, you’ll get used to it.” Balthazar said as he clapped his hand down onto Sam’s leg. “It’s great down here.”

“Yeah, you guys seriously have it made down here!” Dean exclaimed. He was still shocked by the pure size of the garage and what it had been turned into.

“That’s one of the perks of being in a band.” Gabriel joked, “You get to have a cool pad to rock out in.”

“So how do you like this so far Deano?” Balthazar asked, “Too much for you yet?”

Dean shook his head. “No not at all!” he smiled happily. “This is amazing!’

“Well you can come by anytime Dean.” Gabriel said, “Both of you can. Me Casa es su Casa. Plus, I’m sure Cassie wouldn’t mind if his boyfriend was over here all the time.”

Dean’s cheeks flushed. Once again he was the subject of a joke, but he honestly wouldn’t mind spending more time over here with Cas.

“At least I have people who wanna be around me.” Cas remarked with a wink at Gabriel.

“Aw shut your trap, Dean just hasn’t realized how annoying you are yet.” Gabriel shot back with a dismissive wave.

 _‘Annoying? Cas? No possible.’_ Dean thought to himself. He was pretty sure that it would be impossible to find anything annoying about Cas.

Once everyone had settled down they all looked over some sheet notes and ran through what they were going to do today. Cas had gotten up and started to set up the area where they would be practicing. Meanwhile, Gabriel and Balthazar were busy finding new sheet music for Dean.  

“More sheet notes?” Dean asked in exasperation. “I’ve barely managed to get through the ones that Cas already gave me!”

Gabriel rolled his eyes and smirked, “Oh stop your bitching Dean. You’ll need them eventually.”

Dean tightened his lips and slowly took the music sheets. He looked down at them and all the different notes on them. They looked a lot more complex than the original music that Cas had given him. Dean honestly had a lot of trouble reading sheet music. He had never really learned to read it. He was a little shy to admit this or ask Cas for help. Instead, Dean had been looking up videos on YouTube. He found that it was much easier to copy things from the videos than to try and read music. It was like a totally foreign language to him. 

Dean stood and moved to put his new music sheets by his guitar case.

Once he put the music away he glanced over at Cas and saw him flipping through a music book. Castiel seemed so peaceful, like he was in another world.

His intense blue eyes hungrily scanned each page, reading the music notes with a practiced ease. Castiel’s dark hair hung low and framed his tanned face nicely. The ends of the blue tips hung almost in Castiel’s eyes as he read. _‘He is everything I ever dreamed of being. Cas is so smart, he’s talented as fuck, popular, and a badass in every sense of the word.’_ Dean thought to himself in silence. _‘I don’t deserve him, but I’m too selfish to let him find someone better than me.’_

Suddenly Cas looked feeling someone watching him.  His eyes filled with surprise when he met Dean’s emerald green eyes. A small smiled tugged at the corner of Castiel’s lips as his face flushed a nice shade of pink.

“What are you staring at?” Cas asked Dean in a low voice. Dean was close enough to Cas that he was the only one who could hear him talking.

 “You.” Dean whispered back with a small shrug.

Cas chuckled lightly as he asked, “Why?”

It was Dean’s turn to blush now. Cas had just looked so calm in that moment, and Dean wanted to hold onto that image for the rest of his life.

Dean dropped his eyes, chewing on his lower lip as he tried to think of a good response. “I dunno… I guess you just looked really… adorable and I couldn’t help myself.”

“Adorable?” Cas questioned with an amused look on his face.

Dean smirked back at Cas. C could see the appreciation and love that Castiel felt, held in those deep soulful eyes.

 “Yeah, adorable, perfect, _beautiful…_ ” Dean breathed. “You just seemed so… in the moment. It was kinda hot too.” he admitted.

Castiel’s cheeks were on fire now, but he could see the clear arousal in his eyes.

“You are something else, you know that Winchester?” Cas said, shaking his head in disbelief.  He stepped closer to Dean, making the space between them smaller. “God… why are you so attractive?”

Dean held back a snort of disbelief. ‘ _Attractive_? _Yeah right, I’m pretty sure all the aliens on Doctor Who are better looking than me.’_ Dean thought to himself.

“Maybe it’s because you need a guardian angel in your life.” Dean commented jokingly. He somehow managed to push aside his own self-hate so he could keep the mood between him and Cas light.

Cas rolled his eyes but continued to smile as he said, “Well then, I hope I never die because heaven has lost its best angel.”

            “Are you two done being sappy and disgusting yet?” Gabriel asked, his voice breaking into Dean and Castiel’s conversation.

“Well we are now, thanks for being a cock block Gabe.” Castiel snickered as he turned back to face his brother.

“Yeah no problem, that’s just another one of those free services that I offer.” Gabriel said, “It’s part of the ‘I’m the oldest and I can say anything I want’ package.”

“Sounds like I should send you back and order a new brother then.” Cas teased.

“Sorry! No refunds you little shit!” Gabriel chortled with a big smile on his face. “Besides, you’d miss me!”

“Alright, that’s enough bickering you two.” Balthazar said. “If I wanted to hear this much family drama I would just watch reality TV. Let’s play some tunes already!”

With that, they finally stopped so they could start actually playing music.

Dean heart was pounding in his chest when he picked up his guitar. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for this. His were finally starting to get the better of him. He glanced at his brother who was sitting alone on the love seat now. His head was buried in a book as he munched slowly on some of the food he brought out from the kitchen.

The faster his heart beat more he began to feel like he was going to have a full-blown panic attack. His fingers felt sticky and his stomach was churning uncomfortably. Dean felt like he was going to be sick. _‘What the fuck am I doing?’_ Dean thought to himself. _‘I’m no rock star, what the hell.’_

Dean wasn’t ready for this and his body was telling him the same thing. He didn’t want to have a panic attack here in front of everyone, then they would all realize how weird and weak he was. Cas would realize that he is dating a baby and an utter loser and then he would lose everything, maybe even Sam would see the shitty older brother that Dean was. He was preparing for the worst.

 _‘I am so not cut out for this, why did I believe this was a good idea in the first place?_ ’ He asked himself. The reality of the situation was finally hitting him. Dean didn't know the first thing about music and his guitar skills were still very limited. _‘I am about to embarrass the fuck out of myself.’_

Dean tried his best to distract himself, from his panic. He had to think of something, anything else, or he would start breaking down. Dean stepped back, and let the others have their space while they set up.

In silence, Dean marveled at the ease with which the others fell into place. It was like they could all sense each other’s movements and positions without even looking. Dean could only compare it to a silent form of dancing. It was absolutely beautiful. They all were just so comfortable with one another.

Dean watched as Gabriel took his place behind the massive drum set, a smirk of joy and love clearly shown on his face. It was easy to see that Gabriel loved his drum set in a way similar to Dean’s love for his Impala.

As Gabriel settled in, Dean’s eyes flicked over to Balthazar and Cas. They were each setting up their own instruments. Balthazar’s back was to Dean as he grabbed his bass and pulled the strap over his head. Dean swore that he saw tension leaving Balthazar’s shoulders as the straps lay down against his shirt, bunching the material ever so slightly.

Cas turned to look at Dean, just as his eyes settled on him. Cas had a microphone in his hand, and his face lit up like Christmas morning when he looked at Dean. Dean felt the breath being pulled from his lungs as they stared at one another. In his subconscious Dean wondered if there would ever be a day were Castiel’s beautiful face didn’t steal his breath. Dean sure hoped not, he wanted to feel this every time he looked at Cas. It was like he was staring straight into the face of heaven itself.

“You should come over here and stand by me.” Cas said, beckoning Dean forward.

“I- uh… okay.” Dean said nervously. He was sure that he was sweating bullets now.

This was really happening. He was really going to get to play with the band. Dean so wasn’t ready for this.

 _‘By the end of the day they are totally going to kick me out.’_  Dean thought to himself in disappointment. There was no way this could go well for him.

"What are we gonna play first?" Gabe asked eagerly as Dean moved to stand beside Cas.  

"I dunno. Which songs have you learned so far Dean?" Cas asked him with a soft smile.

Dean's cheeks flushed red and he looked down towards the cold hard concrete floor. He forgot he would have to pick the songs they played today. Dean didn’t know nearly as many things as the others, so everyone would have to adapt to his need. _‘Well, I’m sure that they hate having me inconvenience their practices.’_

Dean took a deep breath, considering the small handful songs he knew how to play. He had to pick something good. He didn’t want to disappoint the others, but his options were slim at best. Dean made a mental note to practice more songs for their next practice. _‘If there is a next practice for me...’_ Dean forced away the negative thoughts and mustered up what little confidence that he had left with in him. He stuttered slightly as he spoke, but he still managed to say, "Ummm... I- I guess I'm pretty good at  _Smoke on the Water_."

"Smoke on the water, that's actually a really good one to start with. It’s a great warm up song. You guys up for that?" Cas said as he turned to look at the others.

Dean was surprised at the sudden giddy feeling bubble inside him. He hadn’t expected Cas to actually agree with his suggestion. _‘So far so good.’_  Dean thought to himself.

"Yeah, why not." Gabriel said with a relaxed shrug. “I like that one.”

"Works for me!" Balthazar said. He too was smiling.

"Isn't there a piano used in that song?" Sam suddenly asked from across the room.

Dean looked over at his brother and saw him watching them. Apparently Sam had stopped reading for long enough to listen in to their conversation.

"Yeah, but we'll be fine without it." Gabriel replied. Then he smirked and added, "But hey, maybe if you learn to play we'll recruit you."

"Really? Is that a promise?" Sam asked as his face light up. He looked like a little kid whose parent just agreed to buy him a puppy.

Dean watched as Gabriel winked at Sam. “You bet your pretty ass it is!”

Sam’s face flushed a deep shade of red, but his smile grew even bigger.

Dean took a deep breath and adjusted his hands nervously on the guitar. He had to get his head in the game.  After a second he glanced at Cas for comfort, and found that Cas was already looking at him.

"You wanna play the intro notes Dean?" Balthazar asked.

"Uhh... sure..." Dean mumbled.

"Alright, whenever you're ready then." Balthazar said.

Dean took in a shaky breath and looked down at the guitar in his hands. He repositioned his fingers once again so they were settled onto to the correct strings and frets.

“Hold up Dean.” Cas said just as Dean was about to play his first note.

Dean looked up at Cas with wide eyes. _‘Are they already done with me? I didn’t even play anything yet, maybe I failed some secret test and now I can’t be in the band.’_ His mind was moving at a million miles an hour. Ideas darted through his brain faster than he could even comprehend them.

Dean was practically trembling as Cas took a step closer to him. He set down his microphone and stepped in front of Dean, his deep blue eyes piercing deep into Dean’s soul.

Dean’s heart was beating hard in his chest and he was sure everyone in the room could hear it as it pounded out a song against his ribs. Cas was so close now to Dean that he could see the varying shades of blue in his irises.

“Relax your shoulders.” Cas murmured as he lifted his hands and placed them softly on top of Dean’s shoulders. He felt Cas applying pressure to his shoulders now. It was a light, yet comforting feeling that instantly made some of his anxiety melt away. “Don’t be too tense while you play, it will just make things harder.”

“That’s what she said.” Gabriel snorted off to Dean’s left.

“Can it Gabe.” Cas scolded, while Sam, Balthazar and Gabriel were doubled over with laughter.

“Idiots.” Cas mumbled so only Dean could hear.

 “Also,” Cas continued to speak directly to Dean, “Relax your hands too, you’ll have an easier time hitting notes if you don’t have a death grip on the guitar.”

“Okay… I think I got it.” Dean murmured as he followed Castiel’s instructions.

Cas beamed, watching Dean and checking to see if there was anything thing else that needed to be corrected.

“Perfect.” Cas breathed in wonderment.

Dean could now feel a warm feeling of pleasure rushing throughout his body from his head to his toes.  On a whim, Dean quickly leaned forward and stole a kiss from Castiel’s lips. He teased Castiel by running his tongue along his lip and pulling at the piercing on his lip.

This kiss felt different. It was deeper and more meaningful than the others. This was Dean thanking Cas for his kindness. Dean wanted to show Cas how amazing this opportunity was (even though Dean was sure that he was going to fuck everything up).

Their kiss lasted for a little longer than Dean had intended, but he certainly wasn’t disappointed with it.  Dean was the first to pull away. He didn’t want to, but like earlier, there were still other people in the room. He didn’t want things to get as carried away again.

When Dean looked back up at Cas, his eyes were dazed. Dean could see that Castiel’s mind was elsewhere, but he blinked quickly as a blush heated up his cheeks.

“I-uh… damn…” Cas stuttered, trying to find his words again.

“Well shit Winchester, I think you kissed him stupid!” Balthazar laughed. “Nice job!”

It was Dean’s turn to blush now. Dean had done this to Cas, he had kissed him well enough that he wasn’t even able to complete a full sentence.

“Whoops!” Dean exclaimed as his eyes widened in shock. “Sorry ‘bout that Cas.”

“No, please, don’t apologize. That was… we should start playing now…”

Cas quickly picked up his microphone again and said, “Uh… ready whenever you are.”

Dean tried his best to loosen up his body and relax. When he was ready he began to play.

Dean started off slow, hesitantly strumming out the first few notes as he got used to the feeling. His fingers were trembling slightly and made some of the notes come out rough.

Dean's felt his face flush as deeper shade of red when he messed one note. After his second repetition of the cord it started to get easier and Gabriel chimed in with the drums. Dean felt himself relaxing even more now. The drums help to mute out the sound of Dean's errors. Balthazar also jumped in and then they were all falling into a rhythm with each other.

Dean knew he was going a little too slow but his fingers weren't trained well enough to increase the speed just yet. He made sure to keep his eyes locked on each fret he was playing. The strings were easy enough to play without looking at them but the frets were a whole new story. They required much more attention than the strings did. The longer that Dean played the more comfortable he began to feel. The whole song was basically one long repeating cord. It was easier enough to play once he got the hang of it.

When Castiel filled the room with his voice Dean almost lost his concentration.  _Almost._

Dean’s playing faltered for a split second, but he quickly resumed, trying his best to keep up with the rhythm of the music. He forced himself to focus, he could think about Castiel’s angelic voice later, he needed to impress the others first.

Midway through they reached the bridge of the song and Dean's fingers began to trip up. The chord pattern changed at this part and Dean struggled to remember what notes he was supposed to play. He had the sheet notes sitting in front of him, but they weren’t any help since he still couldn’t read them.

Dean knew that he was rocky, but he truly tried his best. He could only hope his best would be enough.  Much to Dean’s disappointment, he had completely lost his rhythm by the end of the bridge.

The others just kept playing normally and Dean bit the inside of his cheek to hold back a sob of disappointment. There was no way that they would want him to join after this.

When the song finally ended Dean hung his head. He fucked up and he knew it. Now they would see that he really wasn't fit for this band.

 _'A great band like this doesn't want to train a rookie.'_ He thought to himself. Dean's self-doubt was singing loud inside his mind as it tried to eat away at him.

"Not bad for your first time." Dean heard Gabriel say.

Dean’s head snapped up in shock. He took a moment to take in the impressed look on Gabriel’s face. He was being totally serious; Dean could see that on his face. Gabriel was telling the truth.

"Really?" Dean asked breathlessly. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Dean looked around the room to see if the others felt the same as Gabriel did.

"Yeah, that wasn't too shabby." Balthazar chimed in. There was a pleased smile playing at the corner of his lips. "It took me a while to play notes at smooth as you."

Dean scoffed and said, "My playing wasn't smooth. I messed up so much."

Balthazar narrowed his eyes at Dean and said, "Listen, it took me three months to play that much of a song in one go and you've been doing this for what... a week and a half? I honestly wasn't expecting to play for more than ten seconds before you had to stop or start over. You kept a pretty good pace though, a little slow, but still you did well."

Dean was utterly blown away from the feedback he was receiving. He had been expecting anger, shame and disappointment from the others. Never in a million years would he have though that this was the type of response that he would receive. Dean's heart filled with pride to hear them praise him so highly. The others were impressed.

"I agree Dean, you did awesome. And don't worry, your playing will get smoother over time and you will be able to increase your speed too." Cas told him. There was a light in Castiel’s eyes that Dean had never seen before.  “Something tells me that you’re gonna be a fast learner.”

"It got a lot easier once you guys joined in." Dean admitted. Why should he hold anything back at this point? He might as well be honest with them. "Although I almost stopped playing when Cas started to sing; I kinda got distracted."

Dean's face flushed red slightly for admitting that, but the soft smile on Castiel's face was worth the embarrassment.

"Well... sounds like our music won't be the only thing rocking the house tonight." Gabriel teased Dean with a wink.

"You're just jealous because I'm dating someone who actually wants to have sex with me." Cas retorted with a wicked grin on his face.

Dean wasn't sure if he was happy with Castiel’s response or even more mortified by it.

"Okay, can we just stop discussing my brother's sex life already?" Sam groaned from across the room.

 “Alright, alright fine.” Gabriel snickered. He then changed the subject by asking. "So what did you think of our first performance together Samsquatch?"

"It sounded pretty good." Sam admitted. "You guys all kept pretty good pace with each other. If one you changed up the speed of the song, the rest of you kinda just followed along."

"Well that is definitely good to hear." Cas said as relief filled his voice.

"Yeah." Sam said with a smile, "And Cas, you sound even better in person, like damn, Dean wasn't joking! I’ve never seen you play live before, but you’re amazing.”

"Thank Sam.” Cas said as his cheeks turning a slight pink color. “You'll have to come to our next concert. Hang out back stage with us and just mess around if you want."

Sam's eyes widened in shock, he couldn’t believe what Cas was offering. "Seriously?” he gasped, “Damn, thanks Cas!"

"Yeah of course." Cas replied with a huge grin on his face. “You and Dean are now officially a part of our family!”

Dean and Sam glanced at each other, matching looks of amazement on their faces. Dean had to admit, this was awesome as hell.

“Welcome to our big dysfunctional family.” Gabriel snickered. “Hope you enjoy the ride, ‘cause there is no way out.”

Balthazar laughed and added “Don’t you mean, welcome to hell? We’re glad you could join us.”

Cas shot Balthazar an amused look, but didn’t say anything. There was humor in his eye and Dean could tell that this meant a lot to Cas too. Dean loved feeling as if he was a part of something bigger than himself.

"So do you guys wanna try a different song?" Gabriel asked after a few minutes.

"Hell yeah! Lemme grab some water first." Cas said. "Anyone else want some?"

Everyone chimed in, including Sam, so Cas jogged back into the house to get them all something to drink.

As soon as Cas was gone Gabriel turned to Dean with a smirk on his face. "So Dean-o" Gabriel hummed wickedly.

"Yeah?" Dean answered warily.

He was sure that Gabriel was about to make some sort of sexual comment again and so he tried to prepare himself for the worst.

"How about you give singing a go this time?" he asked.

Dean was shocked into silence. That was the last thing that he had been expecting Gabriel to ask, so it took him off guard at first. "Singing..." He murmured hesitantly. Dean really didn’t want to sing in front of everyone.

"Yeah, I'm totally ready to hear this this angelic voice that Cas has been boasting about." Gabriel replied with a hopeful look on his face.

Cas was really the only person who Dean had ever sung around. Usually when Dean sang he was in the shower or in the car with the music loud enough to drown out his voice. He had even been wary singing in front of Cas that first time.

"I- I mean... yeah sure..." Dean mumbled as he looked down at the ground. He had really hoped that he wouldn’t be asked to sing today. Dean wasn’t sure that he was ready to yet, but he knew that he couldn’t turn down the request.

"What do you wanna sing?" Balthazar asked as he leaned in eagerly. "There's a large variety of things that we can play. You name it, we can probably play it."

"What about… Carry on my Wayward Son?" Castiel's asked as he reentered the garage, his arms laden with bottles of water. "Do you know that one?"

Dean nodded and said, "Come on Cas, who doesn't know that one?"

"Good point." Cas said as he handed Dean a bottle of water.

Dean cracked the seal of the bottle and took a long drink while Cas passed out the rest of the water to everyone else.

"So you wanna sing that one?" Cas asked.

Dean smiled shyly and said, "Okay yeah that works."

"Great!" Cas said as he eagerly ran to pick up his own guitar.

Tentatively Dean set his own guitar aside before turning and stepping up to the microphone. He reached up and attempted to adjust the height a little bit so it would suit him better.

However, his hand missed and he ended up hitting the mic, which let out a loud reverberating screech that made everyone jump.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Dean quickly apologized as the others winced in pain.

 _'Can I do anything without fucking up things?'_ He thought to himself.

The other’s just brushed it off casually and they showed him how to adjust the height of the mic stand.

One he finished adjusting, Gabriel looked around and asked, "You all ready?"

When everyone nodded Gabriel said, "Okay Dean. You start us off again. Just go whenever you’re ready."

Dean's stomach dropped. Once again he realized that he would be starting the song. This time, Dean was more nervous than before. He had spent plenty of time practicing the notes for the previous song, but not this one. This time he had to sing. Singing was a whole separate ballgame.

 _'Please don't let me forget the lyrics.'_ Dean thought in terror. _‘Fucking up the lyrics is far worse than fucking up guitar notes.’_

Dean swallowed his fears and finally began to sing. He felt like his voice was loud and awkward as he sang into the mic. He was the only one making any kind of sound so everyone could hear each change in his voice. Now Dean remembered why he was always so self-conscious about singing in front of people. He felt like everyone was just standing there judging him.

By some miracle, Dean managed to make it entirely though the song without messing up once. However, Dean now realized that his throat felt very dry and scratchy. His lips were chapped too and he was even a little out of breath. He credited part of that to the fact that he had been nervous as hell the whole time he had been singing.

Singing in front of people was a lot of work...

Now that the song was over a pressing silence filled the room. The silence seemed almost louder than their music and Dean hated it. He felt an electric charge passing through the air so he turned and picked up his water bottle. Dean was sure to avoid making eye contact with the others even though he could feel them watching him. He really hated being the center of attention like this. Right about now he would be willing to give just about anything to turn into Danny Phantom and sink through the floor.

"Well I'll be damned." Gabriel murmured finally as he broke the heavy silence in the room. "Cas wasn't lying."

"I told you!" Cas exclaimed. The tension vanished as quickly as it had come while Cas eagerly as he slapped his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “I so told you!”

"Yeah well good for you..." Gabriel said with a roll of his eyes. He was feigning irritation, but Dean could see the start of a smile tugging at the edges of Gabriel’s lips.

Dean's heart was slamming against his rips and his fingers trembled. He had to be dreaming. _‘There is no way that they actually enjoyed my singing and my guitar playing!’_ Dean thought to himself. _‘This can’t be real.’_

"We might have to make you our new permanent singer!" Balthazar teased. "Watch out Cassie, your new recruit might try to replace you!"

Dean scoffed and said, "Yeah right, there is no replacement for Cas."

"You just wanna cherish his voice right?" Balthazar said to Dean with a wink.

"Well of course he does!” Gabriel exclaimed with a laugh. “We all know how much Dean loves his boyfriends singing!”

"Well I'll have you know that if anyone is to take my place you better make damn sure that it is Dean." Cas said as he gave Dean a soft, kind smile. “Don’t sell yourself short Dean. You’re amazing.”

A small, prideful smile formed on Dean’s face. Castiel was seriously the sweetest person ever. He was so glad that not only did he have a super badass boyfriend, but he was also kind and considerate. Castiel’s dark bad boy exterior said absolutely nothing about his personality. Dean was sure that Castiel had one of the purest hearts on earth.

"Dean why didn't you tell me you could sing like that!" Sam complained.

Dean looked over at Sam whose hazel eyes wide in awe.

"If I told you that then you would have made me sing you a lullaby every night." Dean joked lightly.

Sam pouted and said, "I feel like there is there whole side of my brother that I never met before!"

Dean laughed, but internally he realized just how right Sam was. There was a whole lot about himself that Sam didn't know about.

It was a side of him that no knew. It was the part of him who constantly second guessed himself, who was weak and defenseless, the part of him who hated the person he saw in the mirror. Dean was broken and he refused to let anyone fix him. There were too many parts that needed repairs. He couldn’t possibly put that kind of burden onto someone else.

Dean brushed those thoughts to the side for now. He knew his brain would revisit him on the late nights where he found himself lying away in bed, unable to sleep. Right now he just wanted to focus on being happy. This was Dean’s happy place, right here with his little makeshift family.

"You guys ready to keep on playing?" Balthazar asked after a few minutes.

"Fuck yeah! We’re just getting started!" Cas said in excitement.

"Let's do this shit!" Gabriel exclaimed while he punched the air.

Afterwards, Dean used the music to mask his fears for a few hours. He decided to fake his bravery and pretend that he had an endless supply of confidence. Dean tried to ignore the shaking in his legs and the lump in his throat.

 _‘I’ve got this.’_ Dean tried to tell himself. _‘Let yourself go for just a little while. Pretend you’re not the lame, nerdy Dean Winchester for just an hour or two. Try to become that awesome big brother and the ultimate badass that you always dreamed of being.’_

After Dean’s quick mental pep talk he felt a little better. The encouragement of the others helped to sooth his electrified nerves. Dean always felt so stressed and uptight that he forgot how to enjoy life, but being here with such an accepting group of people seemed to make things easier for him. Normally he was always forced to watch his back, do his best to protect and raise Sammy, all while keeping his grades up high enough to get into a decent college. If he could get a good education and a good job he could help Sammy go to college too. Hell, he could even start buying them name brand foods if he got a good enough job.

However, all that pressure to succeed put a crushing amount of stress on Dean’s shoulders, no kid should have this much responsibility put into his hands. His dad made things harder for Dean instead of easier. Dean was honestly surprised that he hadn’t gotten an ulcer yet from the constant strain of his everyday life.

Right now, Dean just let all that melt away. His brother was happy, school was pushed to the back of his mind, and he was with a group of amazing people. Finally, he had made friends with people who were actually nice to him and had a boyfriend that who was perfect far beyond his wildest dreams. Dean was relieved to get this break from reality. It felt like a huge weight was being lifted off his shoulders.

The rest of afternoon, Dean ended up singing most of the songs, but he found that he didn’t mind. It gave his fingers a rest from the guitar. He had practiced so much during the week that his fingers didn’t let him play for long. Cas told him that his fingers would toughen up eventually, they just had to get used to playing first.

This also allowed them all to play a much larger variety of songs. Dean was amazed at just how many different songs that Cas, Gabriel and Balthazar knew how to play. The ‘Fallen Angels’ really were a spectacular band in every sense of the word.

As the all continued to play Dean and Cas couldn’t keep their eyes (or their hands) off of each other.  Every time Dean looked away from Cas he felt like this dream would just dissolved in front of him. As Dean sang, he sang from the heart. He sang for Cas and this amazing opportunity that he had been offered.

Their actions didn’t go unnoticed however. Whenever Dean would get distracted and lost in Castiel’s endless blue eyes, he would feel the gaze of everyone in the room. After a while Dean stopped caring about the attention they were receiving.

 By the end of their practice Dean's throat was raw and sore from all the singing he had done, but he would be an idiot to complain about it. Frankly, Dean was far happier than he had been in a very long time.

A little while later, everyone began to get pretty tired. Playing music for an extended period of time was actually a lot more tiring than Dean had realized.

"You guys about done?" Gabriel asked as he set his drum sticks down and rubbed his eyes sleepily. “I’m getting pretty tired and my arms are starting to hurt.”

"Yeah, I don't think I can sing anymore." Dean admitted. His voice cracked as he spoke like it was trying to emphasis his point.

"How's puberty treating you Dean?" Balthazar snorted as he put away his guitar.

"Better than it treated you." Dean retorted with a smirk. His heart sunk as soon as he spoke. The comment had slipped from his lips before he could stop himself. Normally he would have kept a remark like that to himself, for fear of saying something wrong, but he just couldn’t help himself. _‘You are such an idiot.’_ Dean thought to himself. _‘Why the fuck did I say that? Balthazar probably hates me now.’_

Dean’s heart began to thrum faster as he watched Balthazar, fearful that he had gone too far. However, Dean was shocked when Balthazar threw his head back and started to laugh.  Through his fits of laughter Balthazar said, "Ah, you're just jealous of my devilish looks. Bet right about now you wish that you were dating me instead of Cassie."

"Keep telling yourself that." Castiel snickered as he chimed into the conversation.

Dean smirked to himself. He wouldn’t trade Castiel for the world. Dean was finally starting to feel like everything was clicking into place now. It was beyond perfect.

Maybe this really was how things were supposed to work out.

"You wanna go inside and watch some movies or something?" Cas asked the room while everyone put up their instruments.

"Hells yeah!" Gabriel exclaimed eagerly. "I call the seat next to Samborino!"

“If you make me sit on your lap again I will punch you this time.” Sam said with a devious look on his face.

“Whatever you say boss!” Gabriel chortled.

Dean watched Gabriel closely. He was beginning to think that Gabe had a thing for Sam. That thought made Dean more than a little nervous. From what Dean had learned, and already knew about Gabriel, Dean knew that he was a nice guy, but when it came to relationships he liked to jump around a lot. Dean wasn’t sure if the guy every really took the time to settle down in a relationship.

Sam on the other hand always fell too hard when he liked someone. His first relationship had been with a pretty girl named Jessica Moore, cute blonde little thing, and Sam really truly loved her. Unfortunately she ended up moving away a year later when her house burned down. Sam had tried to keep up a long distance relationship with her, but things just weren’t working out for them so Jessica broke it off. That one really hurt Sam. Dean knew that is was always hard to get over a first love. For Sam it was even harder since he had such a big heart. After Jessica came another girl named Madison. She was a feisty little thing, adorable too. Madison and Sam had been really cute together, and had a lot of common interests but their relationship had been short lived. Sam had never told him why they broke up, though he tried to find out many times. All Dean knew was that Sam had been pretty upset about it. Sam’s most recent girlfriend had been a girl name Amelia Robinson; Dean had never really liked Amelia. Dean always felt like she was a little bit two faced. Sam however didn’t see it. Dean was pretty sure that Sam started dating her so he could forget about Jessica and Madison. However, after a while Sam really fell for her too. It broke Dean’s heart when he learned that Amelia was cheating on Sam. Afterwards Sam tried to keep their relationship going, but he couldn’t take her betrayal so they ended it a few days later. Ever since then Sam had stayed away from the dating world. 

Dean was just scared that Sam would get hurt again. He didn’t want to see Gabriel hurt Sam in the same way that the other girls had. Hell, Dean wasn’t even sure if his brother would ever date a dude. Obviously Sam was chill with homosexual relationships, he just wasn’t sure if that was his brother’s ball park. They had never really talked about it to be completely honest. Dean had only just recently accepted his own sexuality. Feeling weren’t really a big topic of discussion in the Winchester family.

Dean made a mental note to try and find out more about this. He would need to keep a close eye on anything that might start up between Gabriel and Sam. Dean wanted to avoid watching Sam go through another breakup. Sam was just to loving and kind hearted to go through something like that again.

Dean was pulled from his thoughts as Balthazar snorted, "Play nice you two! Don't forget, we're watching a movie, not porn."

"Well shit Balthy, if you wanted a three-way why didn't you just ask." Gabriel joked back.

Sam was smirking, watching Gabriel and Balthazar with a look of amusement on his face.

"I didn't know you were into that stuff Mr. Candy Man!" Balthazar said as he punched Gabriel lightly on the shoulder.

By now, all the equipment had been put up and everyone was standing, ready to go back into the house.

Gabriel smirked, holding his arms open wide as he said, "Pfft, hell yeah! I'm totally into that! I am a lover after all! That's the benefit of being pansexual. Everyone is beautiful no matter what gender they are."

"I didn't realize that threesomes came with being pan." Balthazar teased him.

"Yeah… well it's not normally, but for me it is." Gabriel said with a proud smile on his face. “The more the merrier!"

Sam’s face was unreadable. Dean wasn’t sure what his brother was feeling, which was rare. It was easy to see that Gabriel was flirting, but he couldn’t tell what Sam thought about it.

"So what movie are we gonna watch?" Sam asked, speaking up and hastily changing the topic.

"Whatever you want sweetheart." Gabriel snickered.

Sam rolled his eyes, but Dean caught the hint of a smile on his brother’s face.

After that, they all transitioned into a lighthearted debated about what movie they should watch. Gabriel, Sam and Balthazar, all made their way inside; bickering about some comedy Dean hadn’t heard of before.

Dean and Cas let the others take the lead.  Dean honestly didn’t care about what they watched, he would be happy with just about anything. He was with Cas so little details like movie choice didn’t matter much to him at the moment.

Cas smiled softly at Dean and stepped beside him and stopped him before they went inside. The garage door swung softly shut behind Sam, Gabriel and Balthazar, finally leaving Dean and Cas alone.

Dean could feel that beautiful, sweet electric spark hovering in the air between them again. It was like the earth was pulling them together, like they were meant to be. Cas reached out carefully reached out and curled his hand into Dean’s. His touch was soft and gentle, like a feather, treating Dean with care as if he was a china doll. Dean loved how gentle Cas was with him, it made him feel so loved, and he wasn’t used to being treated so well by others. It was such a nice change.

“Well would you look at that… Finally alone…” Cas whispered as he cupped Dean’s chin with care.

“Yeah looks like we are.” Dean breathed back.

 _‘God, I am so in love with this man.’_ Dean thought to himself, but he didn’t dare voice his thoughts. It was far too soon to admit something like that to Cas, he didn’t wanna scare him away. _‘I will never understand what I did to get this fucking lucky.’_

 Dean’s cheeked flushed a light rosy color as Castiel’s fingers slipped down his arm and twined themselves between Dean’s fingers.  He looked at Cas though his lashes and gave him a shy smile as he lightly squeezed the warm hand within his own. The air between them was hot and sweet, pulling them closer together.

One part of Dean, the irrational, typical hormone fueled side of him, wanted to press Cas against the wall and just kiss him stupid as they ground their hips into each other, but the other part of him, the more sensitive, romantic side of him just wanted to kiss Cas soft and lazy all night while snuggling in bed together.

Dean’s heart was pounding in his chest as Castiel’s lips ghost across his own for a brief second. He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with the sweet aroma that always hovered around Castiel. Dean longed to feel the weight of Castiel’s lips on his own so he chased after them, and nibbled lightly along the other boy’s lower lip.

Their kiss lasted for only a second, not long enough in Dean’s opinion, but it still made him feel giddy and light headed. Dean felt like he was floating on cloud nine whenever him and Cas touched. It was an amazing, ethereal feeling that he never wanted to lose. Cas was the piece of him that had been missing, the other half of his heart, his light at the end of a dark tunnel.

Cas completed him.

When they pulled back, Dean looked deep into Castiel’s eyes, his endless blue orbs looking back at him, looking deep into his soul. Dean swore that he could see a galaxy far prettier than any night sky hidden within those eyes.

 _‘How did the earth allow for someone so pretty to exist?’_ Dean though silently, as a small smile crept onto his face. _‘Someone this sweet and attractive should be illegal.’_

“What?” Cas murmured into the silent air around them.

Dean shook his head softly and looked down at Castiel’s feet. Cas was wearing a pair of bright red converses that stood out sharply against his black ripped jeans. “Nothing.”  Dean whispered back.

Castiel brought one hand up, and placed his fingers underneath Dean’s chin, tilting his head up so that they were staring at each other once again.

“Don’t do that.” Cas said in a hushed voice. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide your thoughts from me. I wanna know what you’re thinking Dean.”

It wasn’t a demand, it was a request, a wish to see deeper into Dean’s soul. He could feel the genuine love and concern behind Castiel’s words. Dean wished dearly that he could just pour his heart out to Cas, but there was so much darkness in his past, and so much pain in his life, that he couldn’t weigh Cas down with that. Dean was scare to open up to someone like that; he never let anyone get to close to him. That was how people got hurt. Dean trusted Cas, but he wasn’t ready to spill all of his deepest secrets and feelings. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be ready for that.

 _‘I can’t show him everything I am.’_ Dean though fearfully. _‘I would just chase him off. I am so broken that no one would want to fix me.’_

The look on Castiel’s face was so soft and open that Dean couldn’t help but blush further. Cas was waiting for him to say something, anything at all.

Dean internally cursed himself even as he opened his mouth to speak, but Castiel’s puppy dog eyes were just too cute to refuse. “I… I was just thinking about how beautiful you are.” he murmured softly to Cas.

Dean’s eyes dropped, waiting for the snort of disgust, the rejection on Castiel’s face as he pushed Dean away, but that never came.

Cas was silent for so long that Dean looked up, curiously, he had to see what Cas was thinking. Dean was shocked to find that Castiel’s face wasn’t angry or spiteful, but gentle, and radiating with happiness.

“Not as beautiful as you are.” Cas hummed, his hand stroking down Dean’s back. He could feel a trail of heat and a slight tingling sensation on his face were Castiel’s fingers were.

After a second Castiel pulled him into a warm embrace and let his chin rest gently on Dean’s shoulder. Dean hadn’t been expecting that, but he sure as hell wasn’t protesting. Castiel felt so nice against him.

Now that Cas couldn’t see his face, he let his shy smile drop. He knew he wasn’t beautiful, who would love a dorky, shy loner, with glasses, messy hair and far too many freckles. Dean couldn’t believe Castiel’s words, no matter how much he wanted to, but he would never tell Cas that.  _‘I honestly don’t know what he sees in me.’_ Dean thought silently as Castiel’s dark hair tickled his neck.

Dean’s eyes fell on Castiel’s guitar in the corner of the room. He remembered how good it felt when he was practicing with the band. How he had let his guard down and become someone else. If he was able to do that while he played, he should be able to do that for Cas. Cas deserved much better than him, and Dean was determined to give him that better person.

He took a deep breath and hugged Cas back tighter, letting himself be filled with a false confidence. _‘I can do this. I can do it for Cas. He’s actually giving a shit about my feelings so I better damn well respect that!’_

Dean wasn’t sure how long they stood like that, but it felt amazing. It was nice just to be held like this. There was no sexual tension or need for teasing touches; it was just a plan, and simple hug that said more than a thousand words ever could.

 Eventually their thoughts returned to their thoughts to their surroundings, and they remembered that they were standing in the middle of the garage. Sam, Gabriel and Balthazar had gone inside a long time ago, letting him and Cas just have this sweet, uninterrupted time together.

They turned hand and hand and walked quietly inside to join the others.

Once inside, they made their way into the living room, they learned that they others had decided to watch Ghostbusters. The crisp, intoxicating smell of popcorn filling the air and Dean took a deep breath, taking in the warm buttery aroma.

Sam, Gabriel and Balthazar were sitting across the sofas lost within the movie, snuggled under a half dozen blankets while munching happily on a variety of snacks.

When the others saw him and Cas come in, they adjusted their positions, moving casually aside to make room for them.  Dean was grateful that no one made any comments about what they were doing in the garage. The air was light and calm, creating a happy relaxing environment for everyone.

Dean settled onto the sofa beside Cas and Balthazar. Once he was comfortable, Dean curled himself into Castiel’s side. He let himself get lost in Castiel’s warmth, a soft blanket over their legs. Underneath the covers their hands were tangled together underneath as they watched as Bill Murry trying to chase after ghosts.

Overall, Dean could honestly say that today had been a pretty amazing day. Everything had gone much better than he had expected.  Band practice went great, he was getting closer to his new friends, and now they were all enjoying movies together.

Later into the movie Cas threw his arm across Dean's shoulder, so Dean rested his head against Castiel's chest.

He listened to the soft, steady pounding of Castiel's heart, letting his mind drift off as he and the others laughed at the bad jokes and cheesy ghosts on the screen.

Before the movie was over, Dean fell asleep against Castiel, feeling safer and more loved than he had felt in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title Song: Walking on Sunshine - Katrina & The Waves


End file.
